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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27727724">There's Always A Way Back Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheaterQueen/pseuds/TheaterQueen'>TheaterQueen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula gets a dog, Azula joins the Gaang, Azula's still a genius combined with Sokka's brain, Badass Katara (Avatar), Badass Sokka (Avatar), Badass Toph Beifong, Bato saw these kids and was like 'they're mine now, Big Brother Sokka (Avatar), Child Azula (Avatar), Creepy Zhao (Avatar), Fluff, Gaang (Avatar) as Family, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Happy Azula (Avatar), He wants to help them overthow the nation, Iroh is dead, Jet is just confused, Kya (Avatar) Lives, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Lu Ten (Avatar) Lives, Lu Ten is so proud of his cousins, Lu Ten practically adopts Toph, Multi, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Parental Hakoda (Avatar), Precious Aang (Avatar), Protective Azula (Avatar), Protective Gaang (Avatar), Protective Katara (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Toph Beifong, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Southern Water Tribe, Toph Beifong &amp; Zuko Friendship, Ursa (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Zhao (Avatar) Is An Asshole, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), but at the same time he constantly is talking to the gaang from the spirit world, things are about to go down water tribe style, toph is awesome, watch out fire nation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:41:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>67,804</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27727724</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheaterQueen/pseuds/TheaterQueen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ursa had known from even before Azula was born that she would possess great power. She also knew the danger of letting a child with those gifts grow up near Ozai. She knew what he would do to wield that power for his own use. Ursa had to protect her children from Ozai's wrath. She flees to the one place she know they'll be safe... home.<br/>Zuko and Azula get to grow up in a loving and caring environment, away from the cruelty of the Fire Nation, along side Sokka and Katara. These kids get to be just that, kids with all the love and support they need. That is until the war causes for their parents to have to leave home in order to keep them safe.<br/>They were on their own, protecting the village for two-and-a-half years, then everything changed when the Avatar returned.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Azula &amp; Bato (Avatar), Azula &amp; Hakoda (Avatar), Azula &amp; Lu Ten, Azula &amp; Ursa (Avatar), Azula &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Yue (Avatar), Bato &amp; Hakoda (Avatar), Bato &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Bato/Ursa (Avatar), Hakoda &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Hakoda/Kya (Avatar), Iroh &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Katara &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Kya &amp; Ursa (Avatar), Kya &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Lu Ten &amp; Zuko, Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka &amp; Yue (Avatar), Sokka &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Suki &amp; Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Yue (Avatar), Toph Beifong &amp; Zuko, Ursa &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Yue &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Keep Reading For Rijuwu</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Return to the South</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi, I'm Ellliott and this is my for at ever time publishing an avatar fan fiction. I've had this plot floating around in my head for a couple months and have finally gotten around to writing it. I don't know how long this is gonna be seeing as I'm still outlining later chapters, but I hope I can do the characters justice. Thank you so much for giving my story a shot! I hope you enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tensions ran high throughout the Fire Palace. Princess Ursa had gone into labor earlier that day. Her screams echoed through the closed door. Prince Ozai paced outside in the hall. From those looking on at the situation, one would assume it to be nerves of becoming a father. However, the man’s face revealed nothing to the onlookers. Few of the palace servants ever seemed to know what was going on inside the second prince’s mind. In honesty that could be for the better.</p><p>If they knew the true turmoil of his mind, then maybe they’d have been more concerned for the mother and the very soon to be born child.</p><p>All at once, Ursa’s screams died down and a baby’s weak cry broke through the silence. A few moments later, the healer opened the door allowing for Prince Ozai to enter. He did so swiftly, ignoring the healer and heading straight for his wife.</p><p>Princess Ursa sat leaning up against her headboard, sweat kept her hair clinging to the sides of her face and neck. A tired look behind her eyes was overshadowed by the pure pride shining as she looked down at the small bundle wrapped in her arms. At the sound of new footsteps entering the room, her eyes shot up to the new comer. A spark of fear shot through her eyes at the sight of her husband. However as quickly as the fear came, it was hidden again. She knew the dangers of showing fear around Ozai.</p><p>He shooed the healer out of the room, seeing as their job was now done. His gaze drifted over the child. He leaned over to take the child from her, which she allowed with hesitancy. He glanced into the child’s golden eyes, and his lips drew into a displeased line.</p><p>“He lacks a firebender’s spark.”</p><p>Ursa’s fear returned in full force. “Ozai, he’s not even an hour old,” she began trying to reason knowing his displeased look couldn’t mean anything good. “Sometimes it takes a while for the spark to develop. I know-”</p><p>“No, you don’t know. I need a firebending heir. What am I supposed to do with a non-bending heir? Do you realize the shame it would bring to me if my firstborn were to be a nonbender?”</p><p>“Iroh’s son is a non-bender, do you suppose he thinks of his son as shameful?”</p><p>Ozai let out a bitter laugh. “My bumbling brother cares too much to understand the disadvantage of having a child who is not able to firebend. Suppose he becomes Fire Lord and with his son as Crown Prince, then when Lu Ten became Fire Lord, he would be the first Fire Lord in our great nation’s history to rise to the throne and not be a firebender. It just can’t happen.”</p><p>He continued, “Now if my son is a firebender, I could have a greater claim to the throne and finish this war with a Fire Nation victory. However, you failed to give me even part of the one thing I wished from you. I know who you are Ursa, and I know the power your family’s bloodline possesses. That being mixed with the blood of Sozin’s line would have guaranteed a Firebender.”</p><p>“For your failure there will be a price.”</p><p>Ozai strode towards the open window, the child still in his arms. Anger and panic shot through Ursa. She sent a burst of flames at Ozai, consequences of treason be damned, he was going to try to kill her son. That could not stand. As the flames dissipated, she stood from the bed holding tight to the frame for stability.</p><p>“If you take one more step toward that window, I have no control over what my actions will be,” Ursa despised the fact that she was shaking while threatening her husband. Spirits she hated having to call him that. “Ozai, give me back my son.”</p><p>Ozai scowled at her.</p><p>“He’s young. Please, give me a bit of time. He could develop a spark within the year and become one of the greatest firebenders of his time, but you’d never know if you go through with this.”</p><p>Ozai remained silent for a while. He hated that her logic actually made sense. What if this kid did grow into a great firebender? He would be a fool to rid of the kid before he knew the truth. He’d glanced towards a window another time, He grudgingly, handing the boy back to his mother. The second the boy was returned to his mother arms, she clutched him to her chest, keeping her eyes trained on her husband incase he had the idiotic to go back on this decision.</p><p>A knock at the door drew Ursa’s attention away from Ozai briefly. Firelord Azulon entered, followed closely by Crown Prince Iroh.</p><p>“Princess Ursa, you shouldn’t be standing, let’s get you back to bed,” Iroh said, ushering her back to where she’d been seated, helping her get adjusted, the babe still as quiet as he’d been since moments after entering the world. His golden eyes stared up at his mother.</p><p>Firelord Azulon stood beside his eldest son, peering over at the child. Ursa was unable to read any sort of emotion on his face. If he ordered the boy killed, then Ursa would have no way of keeping her son alive unless she wished to be on the run for the rest of time.</p><p>“What name did you have in mind for our new prince?” Azulon asked with a slight smile on his lip, breaking the worry Ursa felt that he’d have the boy killed. He hadn’t cared when Lu Ten was born a non-bender, why would he mind Ozai’s son being one as well.</p><p>“Zuko,” she answered quickly, ignoring the almost inaudible scoff from Ozai.</p><p>Iroh was the first to speak, “A strong name. He’ll help lead our nation to glory on day.” Ursa let Iroh hold the boy for a moment.</p><p>A sadness spoke in Ursa’s mind. She knew what was happening to the rest of the world thanks to the Fire Nation’s so called ‘glory.’ Truly she wished for the world to be at peace so that her son wouldn’t have to grow up surrounded by war, but she knew that right now that wasn’t an option. Either the Fire Nation had to completely take over or the Avatar had to return and destroy the Fire Lord.</p><p>Iroh cooed at the boy as if he were talking to his own son. He’d said more along how much he believed Zuko would one day do for the Fire Nation, calling him a one day great general just like his Uncle. Ursa let a small smile across her lips. In another time she would have loved to have Iroh around her son. She knew how much he cared for his own son and she knew in her heart that he would take Zuko under his wing as well.Ozai continued to bristle at the implications.</p><p>Finally, Ozai voiced his anger. “Father you can’t seriously be considering keeping the boy around. He has no spark. You already have one non-bending grandson.” The look on Azulon’s face was slowly breaking composure, as if daring his youngest son to continue. “Father, if word reaches other nations that the two youngest princes are non-benders, they’d think of it as a weakness. They’d see it as an opportunity to attack. I only want what’s best for our nation.”</p><p>Firelord Azulon glowered at his son, letting out an annoyed sigh before speaking. “Need I remind you just how long it took for your own spark to show. If Prince Zuko ends up being a nonbender, then he’ll train under Master Piandao just as Prince Lu Ten has been, becoming another great swordsman in the Royal Family. If you dare make another suggestion like this there will be consequences Prince Ozai. Understood?”</p><p>“Of course father,” Ozai said, bowing with the flame salute, but Ursa knew that it wasn’t getting through Ozai’s head. He’d do anything for any sort of power over Iroh and if having a firebending heir was his wish, then he wouldn’t stop until he had just that.</p><p>Firelord Azulon gave his son a dismissive wave of the hand and turned back to his youngest grandson and daughter-in-law. “Get some rest Princess Ursa. You must be exhausted. I’ll be seeing you whenever you’ve recovered. Goodnight,” with that the Firelord disappeared out to the ever hollow hallways of the palace.</p><p>Iroh stayed a few more moments before handing Zuko back to Ursa and bidding them a goodnight. Ozai didn’t stay any longer than Iroh, as if being in the same room with his own child was going to taint him and diminish his own firebending power.</p><p>Though she’d been advised to rest, Ursa couldn’t. Not knowing that Ozai could creep in at any moment and make Zuko ‘disappear’ and for it to be an ‘accident.’ She wouldn’t be able to properly rest, not knowing her son could be in danger. She knew she’d need energy, but right now Ursa fought against her own body to stay awake.</p><p>She just had to stay awake.</p><p>She had to protect Zuko.</p><p>She had-</p><p>She h-</p><p>Exhaustion won out pulling her into a restless sleep.</p><p>Throughout the night, Ozai made no attempt to end<br/>the boy’s life. Nor did he try any other night. Ursa began to slightly feel at ease. Maybe Zuko would be safe.</p><p>Apparently the Firelord’s threat had had more of an effect on Ozai than Ursa had realized. Maybe, just maybe her son would have a chance at life. Maybe, Ozai would honor his word and let Zuko have a few years to grow and maybe even develop a spark. Ursa had to protect Zuko, even if he was the son of Prince Ozai, he was still her son. He was innocent and could be taught the wrong doings of the world. He may end up being the only truly good person of Sozin’s line, one willing to end the war that has been raging for almost a century.</p><p>Maybe it would be a blessing to the Fire Nation having a Prince of both Sozin and Roku’s lines. There may still be hope for the Fire Nation after all. If Ursa could protect him long enough to have him one day take the throne, then there would be a chance that the Fire Nation would be able to have peace with the rest of their world.</p><p>Ursa just needed to keep him safe.</p><p>---------------</p><p>Almost two years had passed and Zuko had yet to show any sign of a spark. Firelord Azulon saw it as no concern, Zuko was fourth in line for the throne. It was unlikely that he’d need firebending. Especially if he were to grow up to be anything like his cousin.</p><p>Lu Ten, often dotted on his baby cousin. He’d spend as long as possible out by the turtleduck pond, just talking to him. Despite Zuko not being Lu Ten’s brother, he treated Zuko as if he were his brother as he had no sibling of his own. Iroh spent as much time as he could with boys when he wasn’t off at war, being the great ‘Dragon of the West.’ He adored his little nephew and seemed to be willing to do anything for the boy.</p><p>The only member of the royal family that didn’t seem all that happy with Zuko was his own father. Ozai. Anytime he had to spend time around the boy, he always had a disapproving scowl towards his son. Ozai had yet to make any sort of move towards harming him. At least that Ursa had seen.</p><p>In all honesty it confused Ursa.</p><p>What was Ozai’s angle? What did he want? What was his plan?</p><p>Ursa should have known better than to start questioning such things. All became clear a little while later.</p><p>A few months before Zuko’s second birthday, Ozai suggested (read: ordered) that he and Ursa try for another child. A child who’d be a proper firebender went without saying. Ursa prayed to the spirits. She knew she had to agree. She needed to protect Zuko, but the idea of another child scared her.</p><p>What if this child did have a spark at birth? What would Ozai do? To Zuko? To the child?</p><p>If he were to get his hands onto a firebending heir, what would he do to their mind? How twisted would that child’s mind become? Just the thought of that alone frightened Ursa.</p><p>It was no secret that Prince Ozai disliked children, so the likelihood of Ozai wanting another child out of fatherly love or out of the goodness of his heart, was out of the question. Protecting one child from Ozai’s terror was difficult enough, two would be nearly impossible.</p><p>Ursa decided that night that if she did end up carrying another child she’d need to leave the Fire Nation. She couldn’t sit by and watch her children be turned into weapons for war.</p><p>There was only one place they’d be safe.</p><p>One place that Ozai wouldn’t dare look for her again.</p><p>One place where Ursa would be able to raise her child(ren?) in peace without having to worry about Ozai turning them into weapons for a pointless war.</p><p>---------------</p><p>A couple of weeks passed and Ursa could feel the life growing inside her. More than just life, she felt fire. This child would become a bender. A powerful firebender at that. If she were to go to any of the Fire Nation healers, they’d be forced to tell Ozai. She couldn’t risk it.</p><p>She needed to take Zuko and leave... soon.</p><p>Luckily, she’d been slowly preparing for a month or so just in case this escape became necessary. Now it was. Ursa couldn’t allow Ozai to turn this child into a weapon. She needs to protect them.</p><p>---------------</p><p>In the dead of night, Ursa slipped out of her quarters, a bag of supplies hung over her shoulder, draped in black robes, her hair tied back in a low braid hidden beneath a hook, and a blue theatre mask covering her face. She’d already made it look like she’d been killed, koala-lamb blood soaked her bed.</p><p>Ursa crept through the hallways to Zuko’s room silent as a rabbit-ferret. He didn’t wake as she entered the room and picked him up, taking as many of the blankets with her as she could, knowing such a young child would need the warmth for where they were headed.</p><p>The palace guards were completely blind to the woman and child slipping from the palace, skipping across the roofs without a sound. And if any of them did see, they’d have to believe it being a spirit. By morning rumor of a spirit would have to be the excuse for the disappearance of the princess’ son. No body would be for the young prince, nor that of the princess.<br/>In the years Ursa had been in the Fire Nation she’d done what she could to study the people around her. The most prominent being the Fire Lord. He was an interesting character, but from what Ursa knew, he wouldn’t waste resources trying to solve this mystery. He had other matters to worry about that were of more importance than Ozai’s wife and son disappearing in the dead of night when both were now thought to be dead.</p><p>Ursa knew that since Lu Ten was still young, he wouldn’t quite grasp the concept of his little cousin being gone. When would he be coming back? His father would have to explain to him that Zuko wouldn’t be coming back. It would hurt the little boy’s heart, but it would hurt more if Zuko ended up dead because of Lu Ten’s uncle being an absolute idiot.</p><p>Iroh would grieve for his nephew and his sister-in-law. Princess Ursa was a smart and brave woman. Iroh knew it was safest that they were taken from Ozai. His brother was a dangerous man, perhaps this was the spirit's way of saving the last of Avatar Roku’s bloodline. If Prince Zuko had been a bender, there’s no telling just how powerful he could be. If that were the case, then this may have been a blessing in disguise. There’s no telling what kind of monster Ozai would manipulate that power into.</p><p>Firelord Azulon was filled with rage, not at the spirits, he didn’t have a death wish. No, he raged at the fact that his son had driven off the last of Avatar Roku’s bloodline, one he’d spent so many resources searching for to please his son. Ozai had convinced him that by merging Sozin’s and Roku’s lines then the Fire Nation would become unbeatable. Like a fool, Azulon had listened.</p><p>Azulon hadn’t doubted that Prince Zuko would grow up to be a wonderful general, leading to many victories. Now they’d never know. The spirits had been angered by Ozai’s treatment of a child of Agni and had decided to steal away the boy before he’d even been able to discover his potential.</p><p>As much as Azulon wished to send a crew to locate Prince Zuko, he knew better than to waste such time looking for the Prince taken to the spirit world, especially when there were other conquests lurking just before him. He couldn’t focus on this now. There were other matters to handle.</p><p>Ozai would fake his grief for the loss of his wife and his young son, but truly he wouldn’t care. In fact he’d rejoice at the loss of a bendingless child, at the loss of the woman who couldn’t provide him the simple thing he desired. It was just his luck that the spirits decided to intervene before he even had a chance to find out if his next child would be the powerful firebender he so desired. That is if Ursa had even been carrying another child.</p><p>The royal family would hold a duel funeral for the nation, allowing them to grieve for their princess and new prince. Funeral pyres would be lit in honor of lost family members. The nation would weep as a whole for the beloved royal family members who’d been taken too soon.</p><p>In the cargo hold of a ship set for the Earth Kingdom, hidden from sight curled into the shadows, hid a mother and her young child waiting in silence for the ship to dock.</p><p>---------------</p><p>Two weeks passed before the boat finally docked in the Earth Kingdom. It had to have been great luck that for most of the trip Zuko had been very quiet, especially for being such a young child. Sea sickness was no problem for either of them and Ursa thanked any spirits listening that she had yet to experience any sort of pregnancy nausea which would have made this escape nearly impossible if they wished to stay hidden in the hull of the ship.</p><p>During the cover of night, Ursa- with Zuko wrapped in the blankets she’d taken from his room -crept off of the ship, down the dock, and along the shoreline, looking for any sort of shelter until they could secure passage to their final destination.</p><p>A bit away from the small town, there was a small cavity on the side of the cliff face. No one followed Ursa as she made her way into the cave. It was empty and just deep enough that a small fire wouldn’t draw too much attention, especially with the rising sun on the horizon which would help hide any light coming from the cliff face.</p><p>In a matter of minutes Ursa had a small fire burning, Zuko asleep beside it. Their bag of supplies had dwindled on food during their trip, but that would be no concern. Ursa had taken a small portion of the jewels she’d been given by Ozai over the last seven years. They’d sell for a good price which would give Ursa just enough to, hopefully, either purchase a small boat or book passage on one, plus just enough left over to purchase enough food and water for the trip.</p><p>Once the sun rose, Ursa slipped into town, still dressed in the black robes from the night of their escape, though the blue mask she had worn, stayed in the bag in the cave with Zuko. Instead, she had the hood of her cloak covering most of her face to avoid being noticed by the Fire Nation soldiers throughout the town.</p><p>The town was small, but that didn’t diminish the life from the people living there. Children ran through the streets playing games with each other, parents spoke to each other, mostly ignoring the soldiers. Ursa weaved through the children to a small shop on the other end of the town.</p><p>Very few were inside the shop which was all the better for Ursa. After a few minutes of speaking she was able to sell all the jewels to the shop for a decent amount of coin after purchasing enough food and water for the journey. She’d asked about finding a boat, but that’s where Ursa’s luck ran out.</p><p>With this already being such a small town, there weren’t many ships that entered the area, let alone being anyone willing to take a woman and her son south. There weren’t even any boats for sale, so it seemed like they’d hit a conundrum.</p><p>The way Ursa saw it, there were two options: either they continue along these coastal cities and hope to find a passage before they get caught by the Fire Nation or they stay here and hope a boat shows up at some point before they get caught by the Fire Nation. Either way the longer they stayed in the Earth Kingdom, the more likely it was that the Fire Nation would find them and return them back to where she’d worked so hard to escape from.</p><p>Ursa thanked the shop owner and left with her newly acquired supplies back to the cave. She’d taken a few random turns throughout the town to shake any potential followers before slipping down the coastline once again. Just as she was about to get back to Zuko, she noticed something out of place just a bit further down the coast.</p><p>After quickly dropping off her supplies at the cave and making sure Zuko was still safe, she hurried over to the object not wanting to risk anyone coming towards the coastline and seeing her.</p><p>It was a ship.</p><p>Not a huge Fire Nation cruiser, but a smaller one, almost Water Tribe like, but still smaller than one of their war ships. It almost looked like a hunting boat, except it was of Earth Kingdom build. It was in surprisingly good condition considering it looked like no one had used it in a while.</p><p>It seemed that the spirits were on their side at this point.</p><p>The boat would work.</p><p>---------------</p><p>The cover of night had quickly become Ursa’s friend. She’d loaded the boat with their supplies before taking Zuko aboard. He hadn’t seemed all that phased by any of their escape so far (why would he, he’s not even two, there wasn’t much he remember from his time in the Fire Nation, not that Ursa planned on ever hiding that from him, but seriously this probably just seemed like an adventure to the boy), however he was actually excited by this, asking Ursa a couple simple little questions like what it was they were getting on (he just asked Mama? and pointed at the boat) and when they were going home. To which Ursa answered that they were going to their new home very soon and that this boat would take them there.</p><p>Within an hour, they’d caught a steady wind south. By the few calculations Ursa did by looking through her maps, she’d guess a few weeks to a month at most for their time at sea if the winds and currents worked against them. From the way things were working out here, it seemed to be smoothing sailing (pun completely intended, I’m not sorry).</p><p>---------------</p><p>Everything had been going too well and Ursa knew something bad had to be coming their way.</p><p>The winds had turned away from the south, luckily Ursa was able to use a technique like how the airbenders would change the currents around them by regulating the temperature of the air around their gliders. However that was something Ursa could control, the storm brewing couldn’t be changed. Even if she were able to warm the weather around them, there was no chance of completely changing a storm.</p><p>In the couple days they’d been out at sea, Ursa had barely slept, what with keeping the ship headed in the proper direction, making sure an over-excited toddler didn’t fall overboard, and keeping an eye out for any Fire Navy ships, Ursa was running on just pure adrenaline. Adding a storm to that wouldn’t help either.</p><p>The rain came in little spurts for some time then all at once, the true storm hit. The sea threw their boat around like a leaf in the turtleduck pond. There was nothing Ursa could do, so she’d folded up the sail- making sure it wouldn’t rip -and holding Zuko close to her body- which she kept at an above average temperature to keep him and the other child as warm as possible. Their lives mattered more. She’d done everything to protect them and would continue to protect them, even at the risk of her own life.</p><p>Other storms Ursa had been in would pass quicker than this one did. Then again she’d had a larger boat where she and her sister had been able to get away from the storm for a while. Here the only sort of shelter from the storm they had was a tarp that was pretty awful at keeping the rain out. Ursa was soaked to the bone and could hardly keep enough fire going to keep Zuko warm.</p><p>Eventually, after what felt like days, maybe even a week, the rain began to die down, the sea calmed, and the winds stilled. Ursa fought to stay awake, but exhaustion won out quickly and before she knew it she was asleep keeping Zuko curled up close to her. She hadn’t even had time to check where they were, she just couldn’t stay awake any longer.</p><p>---------------</p><p>When Ursa next woke, there were chunks of ice floating on the ocean near them. They’d gone south at least. Ursa struggled to get to her feet, her legs shaking more than they had been when she’d been running on no sleep. Ursa got the sail opened and then set them in the proper direction before falling back to the deck, already drained from the little work.</p><p>Zuko staggered over to his mother moments after she collapsed. He crawled into her lap, unnaturally warm (and dry) for having just come out of a storm, but Ursa’s mind was too muddled to try thinking properly. She held her son close and let darkness pull her under again.</p><p>---------------</p><p>A few hours later, or at least Ursa thought it was a few hours later, she was woken by the extreme drop in temperature and the rocking of the boat.</p><p>Ursa staggered to her feet and pulled on the ropes attached to the sail, dodging around ice pillars just like she’d done in her youth. Some were closer than others and if Ursa had had more energy she would have melted the icebergs, but that storm had drained her more than expected.</p><p>Soon enough Ursa spotted their destination, a village sat off a short ways in the distance. Time seemed to speed by (no it didn’t, she’d blacked out again) and before she knew they knew it the boat was crashing into the shoreline.</p><p>Moments later a Water Tribe warrior rushed over to their boat spear at the ready incase it were enemies on the ship. Still Ursa’s mind was fogged over, and she wasn’t thinking. She could see dark spots creeping into her vision and only had time to utter one name before the darkness took her.</p><p>“Kya.”</p><p>She was falling to the deck before the warrior had time to react.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Welcome Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi, I'm back with another chapter, originally I was gonna wait till Thursday, but the chapter was ready and I wanted y'all to be able to read it, so here it is! Hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    When Chief had asked Tuluk to take a quick look around the village in case of any unexpected visitors, he hadn’t actually expected to find anyone. However, a young woman and a child with her was a deep contrast to their usual visits. Tuluk’s first reaction should have been to take the woman to the village, but a Fire Nation woman knowing the Chief’s wife was a situation for concern.</p><p>    Tuluk sprinted back into the village to find Chief Hakoda. Hakoda was over speaking to Bato, probably going over some village concerns for the upcoming solstice. They both noticed Tuluk and quickly made their way to meet him.</p><p>    “Chief, there’s a Fire Nation-”</p><p>    Before Tuluk even had a chance to finish his statement,  Bato and Hakoda had taken off to the  outside edge of the village, most likely going to figure out just how long they had before the ship would dock at their home. And who they’d take this time, they had no waterbenders left so it’d be a mystery as to why the Fire Nation was coming.</p><p>    Tuluk followed the men. Both slowed a bit at the sight of the small boat on the shoreline and approached it slowly. They didn’t seem to know what to do with this new knowledge. They’d been expecting a fire navy ship, not… whatever this was. They’d drawn their knives just in case whoever was waiting on the boat was a sign of danger. As soon as they got to the ship, weapons were dropped, clattering against the wooden deck.</p><p>    “It can’t be,” Bato muttered, his eyes never leaving the prone woman’s form, as if if he dared look away she’d disappear.</p><p>    “Bato,” Hakoda started, motioning to the small child whose head was poking through the pile of blankets. The child stared at them with big golden eyes, full of curiosity. From the looks of it the child was Fire Nation, so being in such a strange environment would be new for the kid.</p><p>    “We need to get both of them to Pana.” Bato sait picking the woman up, while Hakoda grabbed the child and the blankets he was wrapped in.</p><p>    “Tuluk, get the boat-”</p><p>    “Just worry about that Chief, I got everything under control.”</p><p>    Bato was already half the distance back to the village and Hakoda had to jog to keep up with his friend.</p><p>    “She’s freezing ‘Koda, I’m not sure how much longer she’ll last,” muttered Bato.</p><p>    “She’s strong, she has to live. If not for herself, then for her son.”</p><p>    They were silent till they reached Pana’s hut a little while later. Pana had been talking with Kya when the men entered. </p><p>At first Pana glared at them, getting ready for his usual <em>‘unless you’re dying, get out.’ </em>Pana had experiences in the past where Hakoda and Bato would end up at Pana’s enough with all the shenanigans they had gotten up to. He’d just assumed that this was another result of a plan gone sideways. That was until he got a look at the unconscious woman in Bato’s arms. In a flash Pana was up and ordering Bato and Hakoda around.</p><p>    “Bato, put her on the bed and get those wet robes off of her before she freezes up even more. Wrap her in those furs,” he said pointing at a pile, “Chief, get the boy wrapped up in some dry furs we need to get his body temperature up otherwise he may not make it long here. Kya-” the healer started, turning to the woman only to stop after seeing her reaction to this whole ordeal.</p><p>    Kya was frozen where she stood watching Bato covering the woman. This had to be some sort of trick. She couldn’t be here. She’d been taken from them nearly seven years ago. How was she back? Why was she back? What had happened?</p><p>    Hakoda had caught onto his wife’s silence. “Kya? Are you alright?”</p><p>    Kya didn’t hear him. She didn’t look away from the woman, for fear she would disappear. As if this was an illusion. She figured this had to be some sort of trick. She’d been gone for so long. She couldn’t be back.</p><p>“Ursa?”</p><p>---------------</p><p>    After a bit of help, Pana kicked Bato, Hakoda, and Kya out seeing as they were all worrying too much for the healer’s liking. It had been stressful enough having two hypothermic patients (though it didn’t appear the child was ill at all, interesting.) that he didn’t need three more people stressing while he tried to work.</p><p>    Outside Kya paced back and forth muttering phrases such as ‘gonna kill him’ and ‘how dare he have the audacity’ and ‘stupid Fire Nation… destroy them all myself if I have to.’ Pacing which Hakoda had attempted to stop, but had quickly given up on knowing how stubborn his wife could be and that whatever dark hole her mind was drabbling in, wouldn’t be easy to pull her out of. Not while she was like this and considering it sounded as if she were planning to assassinate most, if not all, of the Fire Nation royal family, he prayed to Tui and La mercy on anyone who dared try to stop her.</p><p>    Bato didn’t seem to be faring much better. Though Bato’s worry manifested in a very different way than Kya’s. He wasn’t plotting, at least not aloud, murders. He stood in silent shock, almost as if he’d seen a ghost… a spirit. Hakoda didn’t blame him. </p><p>    None of them had ever expected to see Ursa again. Those who’d been taken to the Fire Nation in past raids didn’t come back, so why would Ursa. How could she be back? Who forced her to leave? What had happened to her?</p><p>    After what felt like an eternity, Pana, finally, let them back into the tent. As they entered Pana explained that while the hypothermia was causing issues in Ursa’s system, she’d also been out in the open long enough that she’d caught an illness that wasn’t doing anything to help her current situation.</p><p>    “I’ve done what I could, but I’m unable to do much else,” he turned to Kya who sat beside Ursa and was running a hand over her hair. Her eyes were distant. “Kya, would you be able to take a look at her chi? It’s the only way to know if there’s something more going on here.”</p><p>    Kya nodded. She picked up a strip of seaweed that Pana had on hand. After a moment the seaweed began to glow. Kya held the plant above Ursa’s head and slowly trailed it down her body, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, her hands jerked back, nearly dropping the seaweed onto Ursa.</p><p>    “She’s pregnant,” Kya whispered.</p><p>    Pana stared at Kya for a moment. “That could explain why this illness has affected her more than it would another.”</p><p>    “Kya,” Bato began, the first thing he’s said since entering the hut, really since bringing Ursa here, “Are you positive?”</p><p>    “Yes. Whatever power this child will have…” she trailed off. Kya looked over Ursa. <em>Is this why you ran? What happened to you Ursa? </em>Kya’s gaze drifted over to Ursa’s son. “What about her boy? Is he alright?”</p><p>    The young boy had been dressed in a small fur suit near the fire. He was fidgeting with a small medical tool that didn’t appear to be too dangerous, but knowing Pana (who really wasn’t known for his talents with small children) it very well could be. He must have noticed the adults looking at him because after a moment, he looked up towards the adults in the room and gave them a shy grin before turning back to the tool, clearly enraptured by it. </p><p>    “It was odd…” Pana said, “I couldn’t find anything wrong with him. No hypothermia, no illnesses, nothing. He should have caught something. He just came from the Fire Nation straight to the South Pole. He’s young. I don’t know what to think about this, but it makes things just that much simpler as of now.”</p><p>    “Do we know anything about him other than him being Ursa’s son?” Bato asked, clearly trying to process the absurdity of this situation.</p><p>    Pana shook his head, “He hasn’t said anything. If I didn’t know better I’d think that he could be too young to speak, but we all know that Fire Nation kids are generally smaller than Water Tribe kids. By my best guess, I say he’s two or at least close to it. He should be able to at the very least tell us his name so we can at least have a name to call him.’”</p><p>    A quick look from both Bato and Kya basically solidified what Hakoda had already guessed. He got the job of talking to the kid. Sure he had a son himself, but that didn’t mean was any good at talking to kids. Hakoda almosted asked Kya if it was a good idea to have him do this, but her answering look was enough. Spirits save him.</p><p>    Hakoda sat down across from the boy who immediately scooted back a bit from him. Hakoda didn’t want to frighten the kid more than he probably already was. Uncertainty flashed through the kid’s eyes and he looked over at his mother.</p><p>    In a small voice he asked, “Is mama okay?”</p><p>    “You’re mother will be alright,” Hakoda answered, keeping his voice soft, as to not wanting to spook the kid anymore than he already was, what being around a complete group of strangers. Hakoda mentally cringed at himself, he <em>really </em>needed to stop calling the boy ‘kid.’ “Would you be able to tell us your name, little guy?” <em>That wasn’t any better, was it? </em></p><p>    The kid was staring down at the tails of his anorak and, once again, in an even quieter voice answered, “Zuko,” he stayed quiet for a moment, “Mama says not to talk to strangers.”</p><p>    Hakoda smiled, Zuko was a smart kid, “It’s alright. We’re old friends of your mother and we’re gonna take care of you while she’s recovering, okay?”</p><p>    Zuko was quiet. He looked up at Hakoda, then Bato, then Pana, and finally Kya before nodding. “Okay.”</p><p>    Pana whispered something in Kya’s ear before grabbing a book and beginning to go over some information. One would probably think it to be research for Ursa’s condition, however Hakoda had visited the healer’s hut enough times over the years to know that Pana had all those books memorized. He also knew that this was Pana’s subtle way of saying ‘you deal with her son, we all know how good I am with children.’ Kya moved to Hakoda’s side. </p><p>“Zuko?” He looked up at her with wide eyes, “Would you like to stay with us until your mother gets better? We have a son around your age you could be friends with?”</p><p>He nodded eagerly. Kya felt a grin break out on her face at seeing the uncertainty on Zuko’s, completely melt away at the mention of a potential friend.</p><p>“Alright then, come on.” Without thinking Kya picked up Zuko, balancing him on her hip as she would with her Sokka numerous times. Instead of hiding away like he’d done with Hakoda, he curled into Kya’s side almost as if shielding himself from large men in the tent.</p><p>That small interaction there should have set off red flags for what they’d soon learn once Ursa woke, but at the time it hadn’t meant much more than a child finding comfort in someone that reminded him of his own mother.</p><p>Kya cast a glance towards her husband before leaving the hut with Zuko balanced on her hip, taking him to play with Sokka like she’d suggested. However, that wasn’t before making sure Hakoda had understood what her look had meant. <em>‘Talk to Bato. Make sure he’s okay.’ </em></p><p>Bato had taken Kya’s place beside Ursa. His hand drifted over hers, but didn’t make contact. His face revealed nothing of his emotions, however having known him for so long, Hakoda knew Bato was struggling. Struggling with what, he didn’t know. The fact that Ursa was home? Or that she had a kid with her? Or was it that something so awful had happened that Ursa, the woman who never ran from a fight, had left instead of fighting? Hakoda didn’t know.</p><p>He didn’t know what to say. Bato was the one who was good with words, not him. He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder in hopes of conveying his silent message. He was here if Bato needed to talk.</p><p>“You don’t think whoever she ran from followed her, right?” Bato suddenly spoke. “She needs to be safe here, this is her home. She shouldn’t feel for her life in her own home, nor her children’s lives. We need to keep her safe.”</p><p>Hakoda thought for a moment. That hadn’t been what he’d been expecting, then again, he hadn’t known what he’d be expecting. “We will. We can’t let the Fire Nation take her again.”</p><p>Try as they might, the Fire Nation wouldn’t hurt their family anymore.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    To say that Firelord Azulon was furious would be an understatement. He’d spent countless resources searching the world for Avatar Roku’s descendants and he’d finally found her, only for her to once again disappear before there was a chance of harnessing the gifts Roku’s family possessed. It was an embarrassment, to not only the royal family, but to the nation as a whole. If word got out about Ozai’s wife’s disappearance, then the other nations would begin to doubt the Fire Nation’s greatness. What then?</p><p>    There’d be rebellions, more than what there already were. More people would think the Fire Nation to be incompitent in their ability to lead the rest of the nations. They’d fight back even more than they already were and then where would they be? Back before Firelord Sozin began the war, that’s where.</p><p>    It took all Azulon’s restraint to not curse the spirits, because even he knew better than to blame the great spirits when they clearly had a plan in mind. </p><p>The guards who’d been placed around the Princess’ quarters hadn’t seen anything or heard anything until it had been too late. Guards from across the palace had reported seeing a shadow carrying a small bundle that could have been the young prince, but no one had been able to confirm. All they’d known was that Ursa and the young prince had been there one day and gone the next.</p><p>    What further frustrated him was that Ozai didn’t even seem to care. These past years had shown him just how heartless his second son was. What man could watch as son and wife disappeared and not feel any sort of grief or remorse for them. The same son who had basically begged Azulon to find Roku’s descendant. </p><p>    In fact Iroh, who had hardly known Ursa, had shown more grief for her and his nephew than Ozai had. Lu Ten, who hadn’t quite understood what had happened, had grieved for his cousin and aunt. On occasion, Lu Ten would still ask when they were coming home. Azulon had seen Iroh’s pain as he’d tried to explain to his son that they didn’t know where Ursa and Zuko had gone and they didn’t know if they were coming home.</p><p>A very small part of Azulon was grateful for what the spirits had done. There’s no telling what Ozai could have done to that boy considering his attitude towards him the night he’d been born and the months there after. Azulon also knew that Ozai had been hoping for a second heir to be born with a spark, but there’s no telling what kind of monster Ozai would turn that child into if they’d wielded the power of Avatar Roku’s line and the power of Sozin’s.</p><p>It was clear now that Ozai had been displeased with his son. Azulon hadn’t cared that the boy hadn’t been born with a spark. There had been little chance of him ever becoming Firelord, so he wouldn’t have needed to be a Firebender. Even if he did end up as Firelord, they’d have won the war by then and he wouldn’t even have to be a firebender to lead their nation.</p><p>Maybe this was all a blessing in disguise. Who knows what sort of contentions would have risen if Ursa were still here. What she would have done to protect her son. He’d seen the rage in her eyes that night Zuko had been born. He didn’t know what Ozai had tried to do, but Azulon knew she would do anything to keep her son safe.</p><p>It had been no secret that she despised Ozai, and would rather be anywhere else in the world than at his side. Ozai craved her power and believed that Ursa would give him just that with an heir, but according to his son she’d ‘failed.’ It wouldn’t surprise Azulon if this ended up being some scheme Ozai had concocted to rid himself of his wife and bendingless child.</p><p>If that wasn’t the case, then Azulon prayed for their spirits to have a quick and safe passage to the spirit world. </p><p>May their souls rest soundly on the other side.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Pana had known that Kya, Bato, and Hakoda would constantly be popping into his hut to check on Ursa, he just didn’t think it would be so frequently. He knew the four had been very close in their youth, but he also knew that with the solstice just around the corner all hands were needed to ensure survival of the tribe. As much as Pana was tempted to parent them, he knew their intentions were good. They were worried for their friend and if anything this was still a shock. </p><p><em>No one </em>escaped the Fire Nation and lived to tell the tale. Pana knew that personally as did the Chief. All the waterbenders who’d been taken in the raids, the Air Nomads genocide, the people of the occupied Earth Kingdom, but now a woman and son, who’d been so close to the Fire Nation Royal Family, were able to escape. It was concerning. <em>Someone</em> should have followed them.</p><p>    More often than not one of the three would be sitting beside Ursa. Kya would have both Zuko and Sokka with her. Zuko had been staying with them for the past days since he’d seemed most comfortable around Kya and had connected quickly with Sokka. The boys would play while Kya would sew and talk with Pana. As much as Kya had wished to be helping more around the village and even though she was barely halfway through her own pregnancy, Hakoda was already worrying too much. Sitting with Ursa gave her something to do and she was able to work on a blanket for her next child. </p><p>    When Kya wasn’t there and Bato was, it was a different environment completely. There weren’t any kids playing and Bato hardly did anything other than watch over Ursa. Usually it was later in the day when Bato would visit. He wouldn’t speak much to Pana. He’d ask if there were any changes in her condition, which there hadn't been other than the few minutes where Pana was able to wake her up enough to get some water and nutrients into her system. He’d stay until late into the night, sometimes through the night if the dark lines developing under his eyes were any indication to go by.</p><p>    Hakoda’s moments by Ursa’s side were short, but still very different from that of his wife and best friend. He wouldn’t be able to stay for long, but in the short spurts of time he was there, he’d be talking to her. He didn’t know if she could hear him but he’d hoped that talking to her would maybe be enough to pull her back to reality.</p><p>    A few days after Ursa and Zuko’s arrival, Ursa’s illness had passed from what both Pana and Kya could tell, however she still hadn’t woken from whatever was keeping her mostly unconscious. Pana didn’t have any sort of information to know what to do. He wasn’t one to find himself often praying to the spirits, but at times like this, he didn’t know what to do. </p><p>    When Pana had mentioned this concern to Hakoda, he’d quickly left and returned with Kanna. Pana had felt like an idiot, he should have thought to bring Kanna in. She’d always been knowledgeable on scenarios where someone would be dealing with spirits. She knew when someone had a spirit watching over them and this was no exception.</p><p>    Immediately upon entering the hut, Kanna informed them that there was indeed a spirit watching over Ursa. Which spirit? They couldn’t know. Not until Ursa woke and told them. If she told them.</p><p>    It wasn’t unusual that there was a spirit meddling with Ursa. All those years ago when she and Kya had first entered the village, Kanna had known there was one spirit watching over the Fire Nation woman. It seemed that whoever that spirit was decided to once again interrupt her life. There was nothing they could do now.</p><p>    All they could do was wait. </p><p>---------------</p><p>    A little over a week had passed since Ursa and her son had arrived in the Southern Water Tribe. Ursa had yet to gain a full consciousness. It should have been obvious that it would take time for Ursa to wake, she’d just sailed for who knows how long, carrying a child while watching out for another, through a storm, with little to no sleep, while running from the Fire Nation. At this point it was a miracle she was still alive. </p><p>    But Pana was beginning to become more concerned. She wouldn’t stay alive long if he wasn’t able to get some proper nutrients in the woman. There had only been so much he could do while she was unconscious. He hoped that this spirit would be done speaking with Ursa soon so he could properly care for her.</p><p>    Finally the day came when Ursa awoke.</p><p>    Kya sat beside her, without the boys today seeing as Kanna had found a way to keep them occupied for an hour or so before they took a nap. Pana had slipped out to speak to some others around the village, so Kya had offered to keep an eye on Ursa in case anything happened. Kya had continued working on her blanket.</p><p>    She’d been zoned in on her work when she noticed Ursa beginning to stir beside her. Kya dropped the blanket immediately and waited. A few moments later, Ursa shot awake, tossing the furs that had been draped on her away. Her eyes were full of panic as she searched the room looking for any sorts of danger around. Another moment later her eyes settled on Kya.</p><p>    Her eyes widened briefly in shock, though the panic had left.</p><p>    “Kya?” She asked, the word coming out as barely more than a whisper.</p><p>    Instead of any answer, Kya dragged Ursa into a bone crushing hug. She hadn’t even noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks. After all these years, finally, finally Ursa was home. It didn’t matter what the Fire Nation tried, Kya wouldn’t allow them to take her sister away again. She’d lost her once and wouldn’t risk losing her again. </p><p>    “This is the Water Tribe isn’t it? This isn’t just some trick? I’m not still in the Fire Nation. Zuko’s- Where’s Zuko?” Ursa pulled away from Kya, panic filling her eyes once more.</p><p>    “He’s safe. He’s been staying with Hakoda and I while you’ve been...”</p><p>    Ursa did hear the rest of what Kya said, she was flooded with relief. Zuko was safe. That was all that mattered. Her one goal upon escaping the Fire Nation.</p><p>    “Ursa, what happened? Last we’d heard, you’d married the Fire Lord’s son, then there was no more news. It was like you’d ceased to exist.” Kya asked.</p><p>“Ozai is a fool who didn’t realize who he was dealing with. He was a threat to my children and I couldn’t stand by while he… While he turned them into weapons for this pointless war,” Ursa snapped, spitting the Fire Prince’s name as if it were poison.</p><p>“So you left? Just like that, no strings attached?”</p><p>A humorless laugh escaped Ursa’s lips. “The Fire Lord wouldn’t have just let me get away with Zuko. If I planned this all correctly then, the Fire Lord and his family should believe that I’m dead and that a spirit stole away the young prince late in the night.”</p><p>Kya facepalmed and took a deep breath. “You’ve always been one for dramatics haven’t you sister,” Kya stayed silent for a moment, “Do you really think it worked?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t have come back if I thought it could fail, don’t give me that look. If I thought even for a second that I could put you and the rest of our family in harm’s way, I would have fled to the otherside of the world to keep you safe.”</p><p>    There were times where Kya admired Ursa’s loyalty and desire to protect others, however this was not one of those times. “Ursa, even if you thought that the Fire Nation would follow you, you should have come home. We would protect you. You don’t need to do everything alone anymore, you haven’t needed to for a long time. Families look out for one another and no matter who followed you, they’d have to go through us first to get you.”</p><p>    As Kya finished her little spiel, Ursa pulled her into another hug. She hated that her sister gave her permission to endanger all the people she cares about, but she needed to get that belief that she needed to do everything alone out of her head. She had a family. She’d had a family for so long, yet it was still hard to let them in. She didn’t want them to get hurt because of her, but she knew that if it were anyone else in her position she would be saying the same thing. </p><p>    “If it will help you stop worrying so much, I promise you that if I ever end up married to the Fire Lord’s son again and I have to create an escape that I’m not sure will 100% work, then I’ll come to you straight away no matter the consequences. Deal?” Ursa said, sounding as if she was holding back a smirk.</p><p>    Kya laughed, “Yes, that helps,” silence fell for a moment. “I’m glad you’re home safe.”</p><p>    “I’m glad to be home too.”</p><p>    Any fear that this was a dream melted away. Even in the seven years since Ursa was taken by the Fire Nation, they were still the same souls that had met all those years ago on the island of Kyoshi and had decided from that day forward they were family. That they’d stay by each other’s sides no matter what. They were still the same spirits that had traveled the world before moving to settle down in the Southern Water Tribe.</p><p>    Whatever had happened in the Fire Nation hadn’t changed Ursa. The Firelord hadn’t changed her. <em>Ozai</em> hadn’t changed her. She protected those she loved fiercely and that hadn’t changed. She hadn’t changed. </p><p>    Footsteps from outside the hut drew closer and within a matter of seconds, Pana stood before them. Little shock showed on his face, though that wasn’t an unusual sight. If Kya had to guess, it was because the old man had seen so much insanity from their little family over the years that he found very little shocking at this point.</p><p>    “You’re awake, good,” Pana moved to the center and began spooning a broth out of a pot into a bowl. “You need to eat. I’ve had a hell of a time trying to get any sort of food into your system to keep you and your baby alive. Next time you think of sailing during a storm, a word of advice, make sure you’re actually prepared to survive.”</p><p>    Ursa grinned. She knew Pana’s words were meant to be good advice. She should have been prepared for a storm, but how was she supposed to know La would throw that in her path? It’s not like she talked to the Great Ocean Spirit everyday. She accepted the bowl without any sort of complaint.</p><p>    “After you finish that, you need to get up and get your blood moving around. We don’t need you freezing up now that you’re finally awake, and before you say anything, I know you’re a firebender who has lived in the Poles for years, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow my advice. Healers orders.”</p><p>    “I wouldn’t dream of ignoring your advice dear Pana.” Pana’s raised brow was enough of an answer to know that there had been a number of times where Ursa <em>had</em> in fact ignored the healers orders.</p><p>    A little while later, Ursa was layered in Kya’s spare parka. They left Pana’s tent at his insistence that since Ursa was no longer dying she should get out and find her son who must be worried. So that’s where they went. When Kya had left earlier that day, she’d expected both boys to be asleep upon her return. When they entered it was quite the opposite. They were as hyper as ever running around each other playing whatever game they’d made up now.</p><p>    Upon noticing his mother, Zuko completely ignored Sokka’s game and sped over to her, hugging her. At first Sokka had been annoyed that his new friend’s attention had gone somewhere else, however upon noticing another person in their home, he decided that he too wanted to meet this woman as well.</p><p>    After a bit, the boys went back to playing their game, allowing Kya and Ursa a bit of time just to talk. They each told, some of the happier, stories from their time separated. They’d bring up stories from their younger years. They fell into a flow that wasn’t all that different from before.</p><p>Everything would be okay.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Life had been odd around the village for the past couple weeks, some were nervous - in particular the elders who’d never trusted Ursa even when she’d lived in the village and those who’d never met her - that a woman of the Fire Nation had been so easily accepted by the chief and his family. They wouldn’t directly say anything, but Hakoda knew what they were thinking, and he’d be willing to admit that years ago he’d been in the same mind set. </p><p>    When Ursa and Kya had first arrived in the village, he and Bato had both been on high alert. The Fire Nation had been raiding the south for years, this woman could just be a spy sent to do their dirty work, earn their trust, and then destroy any remnants of the Southern Water Tribe (most likely hoping to eliminate any chance of the Avatar being born into their tribe).</p><p>    In the end Bato and Hakoda had ended up making fools of themselves. </p><p>    Ursa and Kya had been out gathering during the warmer seasons, and like the geniuses they obviously were, Bato and Hakoda had decided to follow them so they’d be able to report back to Hakoda’s mother, the current Chief, if anything suspicious happened. </p><p>However, they’d gotten a late start following the ladies, so they’d decided to take a short cut. A short cut that just so happened to be heavily populated by the spider-hares during the spring months. The ground below had grown thin from the tunnels dug by the animals. Without thinking they had run across the open field to catch up to the women only to be surprised by a rather thin piece of ice and landed into an underground cave.</p><p>    The spider-hares had scampered off at the first sign of the ice breaking. Hakoda landed first, and Bato on top of him. Bato came out of it with barely a scratch and Hakoda with a broken arm, but that’d be the least of their worries once the sun went down. They wouldn’t survive the night in the cold with no fire resources whatsoever.</p><p>    What they hadn’t known was the women they’d been trying to track had witnessed the whole thing. In moments, Ursa had melted a path down to them. She kept a flame lit in her hand so that Kya could work. While Kya hadn’t been a waterbender persay, she had one of their gifts. She could heal with water in other sources. In moments Hakoda’s arm was healed as if the break had never happened. </p><p>    On their way back to the village, the boys had learned much more about Kya and Ursa than they’d ever thought before. From that day forward, life long friendships had formed. Ones that hadn’t been broken by the Fire Nation. </p><p>    A little more than seven years had passed since that dreadful day and Ursa was home, but there was still the fear that the spirits would be the cause of her demise now rather than the Fire Nation. There was little to nothing they could do but wait.</p><p>    Luckily, with the winter solstice just around the corner, there was plenty to keep them busy while they waited for Ursa to recover. Their duties, however, didn’t stop the Chief and his second from constantly bugging the old healer about any sort of updates on Ursa’s condition. <em>Normally</em>, they’d be the ones to approach Pana, so they should have known something was up when Pana approached them.</p><p>    They’d just returned from the tribe's final hunting trip of the season and had begun unloading when Pana made his way to the ship. He informed them that Ursa had awoken and was with Kya.</p><p>Every instinct in Bato’s mind was screaming at him to go find Ursa. To make sure that she was okay. One look at Hakoda showed him that his friend was thinking the same thing, but there was work to be finished. Work that would benefit the whole tribe. When they finished, they’d find Ursa, which shouldn’t be too hard, unless her and Kya had decided to have a spontaneous adventure. The likelihood of that happening however was slim. At least they hoped that it would be slim.</p><p>Hakoda thanked Pana for the update and they got back to work. The moment all the sea critters and plants that had been caught on their trip were unloaded and put away, Bato and Hakoda set a quick pace to where they knew Kya and Ursa would be. They heard voices inside the igloo, they’d come to the right place.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Ursa and Kya had been cooking together when footsteps outside the igloo were heard. They’d figured it to just be Kanna, but the two sets of approaching feet should have clued them in that it was not, in fact, Kanna. Bato and Hakoda entered the igloo, their gazes quickly falling on Ursa.</p><p>    Ursa carefully stood and pulled both the men into a hug, she needed to make sure this was real. She didn’t want to admit it, but she feared that she would wake up back in the Fire Nation, hundreds of miles away from her family. She needed to confirm she was home. That this wasn’t some trick on her mind done by Ozai or Azulon. Luckily, they were real, very real. Ursa hadn’t noticed the tears begin to form in her eyes, but she didn’t care. She was alive, her family was alive, they were safe. </p><p>    When Ursa had pulled out of the hug, shock still laid heavy in their faces, as if they couldn’t believe Ursa was standing before them. It was a look reminiscent of that when they’d first met Ursa, back when they still believed the woman to be some sort of spirit after they’d learned that she wasn’t an ‘evil’ firebender.</p><p>    Ursa said with a smirk in her tone, “Don’t act so surprised. A little illness can’t keep me down.”</p><p>    Hakoda sighed, “Nice to see that the Fire Nation didn’t deteriorate your sense of humor.”</p><p>    “I doubt your’s is any better,” she replied in a matter-of-fact way, to which she could see Bato let out a breath in a way that she knew to be when he was preparing himself for whatever terrible joke Hakoda was about to say. Luckily, probably without even knowing, Sokka came to the rescue, Zuko followed close behind him, though he hid behind his mother’s legs rather than eagerly approach Bato as Sokka had.</p><p>    “Uncle,” Bato crouched down to be closer to Sokka’s level, “Have you met my friend?” He grabbed Zuko’s hand and pulled him closer to Bato. “Zuko’s my best friend.” He said bouncing on the ball of his feet.</p><p>    Bato gave a smile to Zuko, who didn’t seem nearly as terrified of Bato and Hakoda as he had been when they’d first found him. Though there was still a bit of hesitancy towards them, he’d definitely warmed up to them.</p><p>    Kya laughed at her son’s joy of having a friend. “I think we all have some catching up to do. Why don't we discuss everything over dinner?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, so I know it's only been a couple days since chapter 1 and as much as I'd like to keep this schedule as being quick updates, I don't think I'll be able to do that so it will probably a week before chapter 3.<br/>Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Snowflakes and Flames</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm back! I know it's been a bit more than a week, but this was harder to write than expected. I'm not around small children all that often, so it was a bit more difficult to write the kids than I was thinking. Also, writing pregnancy/births is.... odd. I wasn't sure how to do that, but I think I got the message across. (One message being Ozai is an asshole, who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children, ever.)<br/>No matter, it's here!<br/>We now have the whole water/fire crew existing in the same realm.<br/>Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    Dinner had been an odd affair. Sokka had been asking a million questions a second, giving barely any time for answers, at least until he got distracted and pulled Zuko into another game. Once the boys were distracted, Ursa told her family everything from that day she’d been taken from the Tribe. </p><p>    They had been worried that the Firelord had done something, but it wasn’t the Firelord Ursa had ever worried about, Ozai was the dangerous one. The silent predator waiting to strike. While Azulon was bad, Ozai was worse. </p><p>    She told them of her wedding to Ozai, with over half the Fire Nation there. She told them of the five semi-peaceful years where she thought that just maybe there was a chance she could learn to love Ozai, but that had been proven wrong soon thereafter. </p><p>Sure, being in the Fire Nation had provided her a chance to see the people from their own perspective instead of the view of the rest of the world. Ursa had seen that even some of the people in smaller towns, suffering in ways similar to the villages ransacked by the Fire Nation throughout parts of the Earth Kingdom. For as much as the Fire Nation preached their greatness, they didn’t seem to care all that much even for their own people. Which really brought up the question how did they expect to take care of the kingdoms they conquered when they couldn’t even take care of their own people. </p><p>Honestly what had Sozin been thinking? Sure when the war had started, the Fire Nation had been in one of its greatest prosperity points in its history, only for the war to drain that as the years passed on. Ursa had wished that her grandfather had just ended Sozin <em> before </em> he tried to take over the world.</p><p>She told them of the night Zuko was born and Ozai’s <em> plan </em> that night. </p><p>“You should have killed him,” Kya finally said, interrupting Ursa for a moment. Ursa merely shrugged and continued on with her story.</p><p>She told them of her fears for that first year of Zuko’s life, then into the next, and before she knew it she was expected to give him another child. What if this child had turned out to be a nonbender? Would he have killed them? She had to get that kid out of there just in case. She told them of the month of escape and then… well then really the next thing she remembered was waking up in the Water Tribe earlier that day.</p><p>No one knew what to say after she finished. Silence had taken over the igloo. The boys had fallen asleep sometime while Ursa had been telling her story.</p><p>    “We’re glad you and Zuko are home safe, Ursa,” Hakoda said, finally breaking the tense silence.</p><p>    “It’s good to be home. I wish I could have come back sooner, but you know…”</p><p>    Kya was still as a statue, silently plotting the murder of the royal family. Bato hadn’t said anything, but the whole story Ursa had told, well it was a lot to process. Hakoda attempted to lighten the mood, but it was clear the jokes weren’t landing, not that they always did, but at least his jokes were enough to usually get a groan out of his best friends.</p><p>    A little while later, Hakoda excused himself to go finish up some things around the village, taking Kya with him as well, to be sure she didn’t leave to go kill someone. Though in doing so he was leaving Bato and Ursa with the boys, which was another win scenario. They had a lot to talk about anyways, might as well have some time alone to do just that.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Ursa knew what Hakoda was doing. She’d seen the look in her sister’s eyes and knew that she needed room to breathe before she went and did something reckless. She also knew that he was trying to get her and Bato to talk.</p><p>Yes she wanted to talk to him, but she didn’t know what to say.</p><p>What could she say?</p><p>What could she say to the man she’d almost married? </p><p>The man she loved so greatly that every time she’d had to act like she was happy with Ozai, it was almost as if it physically hurt. </p><p>She hated that feeling of betrayal. She knew what she’d done was to stay alive, but the guilt didn’t leave. She didn’t enjoy what she’d done to stay alive, but if she’d ever wanted to see home again she needed to comply and play the perfect wife.</p><p>Then Zuko had come along. It had become more than just her life at stake, Zuko was her son and nothing would change that. She would do anything to protect him. She had almost killed Ozai that night, but she knew she wouldn’t survive on the run from the Fire Nation with a less than day old child. So she’d stayed. </p><p>She had known that the only way to protect Zuko had been to agree with Ozai on nearly everything. Thus leading to this second child becoming a reality and throwing them into this chaos. She should have left after Zuko’s first birthday, but she’d been a fool and waited, thinking that things would get better, but they hadn’t. It wasn’t possible for things to get better with Ozai.</p><p>She knew Ozai was dangerous, but she’d fought dangerous people before, so why had she been so afraid of him. Sure he was a powerful firebender, but so was she. She didn’t care much for Fire Nation politics so him being the Fire Prince didn’t hold much sway over her. Why was she afraid?</p><p>What did she say to the man she’d betrayed out of fear to another? A simple <em> sorry </em> wouldn’t cover it. <em> What would she say?  </em></p><p>“Ursa,” Bato said, interrupting her thought process, “You’re doing that thing again. You’ve started thinking too hard and doubting yourself on every choice you’ve ever made.”</p><p>She let out a little huff, he knew her too well. It was almost annoying how he could practically read her mind.</p><p>“Whatever it is you’re worrying about, stop.” His voice was calm; a voice of reason and peace in the turmoil of her head.</p><p>Ursa turned towards where Bato sat beside her. His features revealed nothing but kindness, understanding, and love.  </p><p>“I hated it there. I hated every time I had to pretend that I was happy, and in <em> love </em> ,” she spit the word, “I hated every moment I had to spend with <em> him </em>. I just wanted it to be you there. I wanted you by my side, but I…”</p><p>“Ursa dear, look at me,” Bato said, gently turning her chin to look at him, “Whatever you did, whatever you had to do, you don’t need to apologize for it. You did what you had to do to protect yourself and…” he motioned to Zuko’s sleeping form.</p><p>“I wish I could go back and do things differently. I just- I wanted to have my life here, but I wonder if- how different life could have been if Zuko had been born here, what if he had been…” She trailed off. She didn’t need to complete the sentence, Bato knew what she wanted to say. </p><p>
  <em> What if Zuko had been his son? What then? </em>
</p><p>Well, he knew what would happen. That boy would be loved and cherished from day one, firebender or not and the other child, too, would be cherished. Bato didn’t know what was wrong with Ozai, but if there was anyone at fault here, it would have to be him. Not the kind, loving woman, who often cared too much about others and didn’t spend enough time worrying about herself.</p><p>“Ursa, you don’t have to do this alone,” he took her hand, “I’ll be here to help you in any way you wish.”</p><p>“You would do that?” She asked, her voice small and quiet. It was a side of Ursa he didn’t see often, considering she was generally an outspoken, impulsive person who didn’t like to show fear, but in times like these it was where she allowed herself to be vulnerable.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Ursa was hugging him before he had even realized she’d moved. Her face was buried in his shoulder and she was shaking. Bato wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. </p><p>Neither knew how much time had passed, not that it mattered much, they were together again. A little while later Ursa pulled back a bit so she could look Bato in the eyes. She shouldn’t have had the honor of loving- and in return being loved -by this amazing man. </p><p>Bato reached up and brushed a loose strand of Ursa’s hair out of her face. “I love you Ursa, I have for so long, there’s nothing that could change that.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.</p><p>Bato and his sweet words. </p><p>Ursa had promised herself she was done crying for the day, alas her emotions seemed to have a different idea. There were tears dripping down her face. </p><p>“I would love nothing more than to have you by my side.”</p><p>They would be okay.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    The next day came quicker than Ursa would have liked, but as always there was work to be done. Despite the sun not truly rising, Ursa still rose earlier than most would, so she went through her usual meditations beside the fire pit. </p><p>It was nice to actually be awake when the day began. It gave her time to think about what had happened. She’d ran from the Fire Nation- with one of the princes -and made it out alive. She’d made it home. </p><p>She felt like something bad should be happening. Someone should have followed her, but no one did. Did Ozai really care that little about his own blood that he wouldn’t care if the spirits took him away? She felt the fire flare beside her for a moment and quickly took a breath, not wanting to melt down the whole house.</p><p>She didn’t realize just how much time had passed until she felt something- something being Zuko - crawl into her lap. She’d managed to extract him from his little nest that he and Sokka had crashed in the previous night and she brought him to her home. </p><p>Or rather the home she and Bato- along with the help of her sister and Hakoda who’d already been married by that point -had spent months building when they’d gotten engaged, though she’d never gotten to see it finished. She’d left before it was done, but it was nice to see it now.</p><p>Ursa let go of the flame before looking down at her sweet, little boy. She wondered briefly if she’d made the right choice in coming here, but seeing just how small Zuko really was, the thought of letting him and his sibling grow up in the Fire Nation palace scared her. What could have happened to him scared her. What if he never did develop a flame, what would Ozai have done to him, especially while having another child who was a firebender?</p><p>“Mama?” Zuko asked, pulling Ursa out of her thoughts. “Where are we?”</p><p>She smiled, “We’re at my old home, from before I lived in the Fire Nation.”</p><p>Zuko looked sad. “Now that you’re all better do we have to leave?”</p><p>“No, baby, no we’re going to stay here for a while, okay?”</p><p>A big grin took over Zuko’s face, “Okay!”</p><p>She silently laughed at her son’s enthusiasm. She wouldn’t dream of taking him away from here. He was safe here and that’s what mattered. Plus, she was happy that he’d already made a friend, something he hadn’t been able to do back at the palace, since apparently friends were some sort of ‘reward’ according to Ozai.</p><p>Honestly what was wrong with that man? Ursa wasn’t one to usually think of someone being fully evil, they usually had a light within them somewhere no matter how deeply hidden it was, but with Ozai? There was no sort of light within him. He craved power and that was all that mattered to him. </p><p>Spirits, even Firelord Azulon had more of a heart than his son. At least he seemed to somewhat care about his children, underneath that whole cold facade. He had the decency to at least worry somewhat about his own family.</p><p>None of that mattered now. This wasn’t the Fire Nation. Ozai, Azulon, Iroh, none of them were here. </p><p>Here she was surrounded by her family. She had her sister, she had her best friends, she had her son and another child on the way. Here they would be safe. </p><p>---------------</p><p>    Ursa got Zuko in his small parka before taking him out to figure out what needed to be done around the village. What she hadn’t been expecting was for Hakoda <em> and Bato </em> to try and bench her from any sorts of true work. </p><p>    To be fair it was more they were trying to convince Kya to not do any crazy work and she just got roped into it since apparently waking from a spirits induced coma the day before was a good enough reason. It also didn’t help that Pana was on Bato and Hakoda’s side.</p><p>    “Hakoda, I’m fine. There’s work to be done, I can help,” Kya once again said trying to get through to her husband. So what if she was about 70% of the way through her pregnancy. It wouldn’t be a problem. </p><p>    “Kya, I know you can help, but please just restsome. There are plenty of people who can help with those chores. You can still work, just maybe doing something less…”</p><p>    “Choose your next words carefully my love,” Kya tutted, her arms crossed and a brow raised.</p><p>    “Physical?” Hakoda supplied. Kya scoffed. “Please Kya, to put my mind at rest.”</p><p>    Kya contemplated it for a moment. She really did love her dorky husband. “Fine, but once I have this baby, I’m back to work, understood?”</p><p>    He laughed, “I’d have it no other way.” He gave her a kiss, to which Ursa fake gagged at, getting her a light smack on the shoulder from her sister.</p><p>    At that moment, Tuluk popped in to get Hakoda and Bato for something.</p><p>    “Please, both of you take it easy,” Bato attempted to reason with them as he made his way out of the igloo.</p><p>    “No promises,” Ursa answered as he left. “Well, now what?”</p><p>    At that moment, Hakoda re-entered for a moment. “Also Ursa, now that you’re no longer out of it, mother wants to speak with you, have fun.” And was gone before Ursa could say anything.</p><p>    Ursa sucked in a breath. That was only going to go one of two ways. It wasn’t that Ursa didn’t like Kanna, it wasn’t that; she’d been a mother figure to her for years, it’s just that… </p><p>There were very few people in the world who could scare Ursa, the one person at the top of the list was Kanna. The former chief had a cool presence so that one could never tell if she was upset until she was already berating whoever just done something stupid and more often then not it had been Hakoda, Kya, Bato, and Ursa.</p><p>    As if she’d been summoned, Kanna entered the igloo, her expression as unreadable as ever. Kya whispered a quick “good luck” in her ear before slipping off to the other side of the room to check up on the boys who were working on the sorting task Kanna had given them the day before.</p><p>    “What did Roku want with you this time?”</p><p>    That definitely hadn’t been what Ursa was expecting, but she wasn’t going to complain, nor was surprised that Kanna had known. She’d always seemed to know when the spirits were meddling in the lives of mortals.</p><p>    “Just more warnings of what the future would bring and all, nothing world-ending or anything, just like warnings to watch out. You know the vague kind that you never know are gonna happen until it’s already too late.”</p><p>    Kanna hummed. The first time Roku had bugged Ursa was a year before the Fire Nation arrived to take her away. That time he’d said something about her making a hard decision in order to protect those she loved. </p><p>This time it’d been a similar warning to begin with, but then he’d started telling her of the paths her children would soon have to take. <em> That </em>had worried her a bit more, but she knew she’d do whatever necessary to keep them safe.</p><p>    He didn’t necessarily say what they’d have to do, but knowing that he children could be put in great danger worried Ursa. She fled the Fire Nation to protect them only to hear that they’d still end up in great danger in who knows how long; any mother would be worried about their children’s lives.</p><p>    “I’m glad you’ve been able to find your way back home, Ursa.” Kanna said hugging Ursa.</p><p>    Roku’s warning would be a worry for another day. Right now she needed to focus on her family and where they were now.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    3 months had passed since Ursa and Zuko had arrived in the Water Tribe and life had fallen into a wonderful rhythm. The winter solstice- Zuko’s second birthday -came and went. That day solidified something in Ursa’s mind and she was able to breathe, just breathe and get to truly enjoy her son’s life without having to look over her shoulder everyday just to make sure her boy was able to live to see another day. And here she was finally able to give her boy the life she wanted for him.</p><p>    Bato had taken Zuko in as if he were his own son. Zuko had even begun clinging to him as he did with Ursa. Zuko loved learning new things here. This was a whole new world for him. </p><p>There had been a night when he’d asked Ursa if they were leaving since she was healed now to which she’d asked if he wanted to leave. </p><p>    Zuko curled closer to his mother that night and said, “I don’t want to leave. Sokka’s my friend and Mr. Bato makes you happy. It’s really nice here.” And that had been the end of it. Ursa knew that this had been the right place to go after their escape. He could grow up happy here. He could be safe.</p><p>    It was so easy to fall back into the life Ursa had been living before she’d been taken to the Fire Nation. </p><p>    Late one night, Ursa laid against Bato, with Zuko fast asleep on her chest, while she too started to drift off when she felt a kiss pressed to her head. She turned somewhat to look at Bato, through heavy eyelids. He gave her a soft smile and quietly asked her to marry him… again, though this time without a big speech, accompanied by lots of rambling. Ursa said yes, and the small family drifted off for the night.</p><p>    The next morning Bato brought out the necklace he’d carved for Ursa years ago. She wore it with pride, knowing it had been too long, but they were finally getting their chance at the life they’d wanted for so long.</p><p>---------------</p><p>During those months, Kya had been insisting on continuing on with her usual duties, however as time went on, even Ursa was trying to just keep her resting and off her feet as much as possible since she’d gotten to the point where she looked to be ready to give birth any day now.</p><p>Kya kept saying she was fine… until the day the baby decided it was time to enter the world.</p><p>Sokka was staying with Ursa and Zuko for the day to give Kya time to rest, but they all knew just how bad Kya was at <em> not </em> working. It had been a normal day, Kya had been mending her parka due to Sokka having found her boomerang and decided he wanted to be a warrior for the day. It was nothing terrible, since Hakoda had managed to pick him up before too much damage could be caused. </p><p>At least it had been a normal day until her water broke.</p><p>When she’d had Sokka, there had been some panic since she hadn’t known what to expect, this time however there was more panic. She didn’t know why, but something didn’t feel right. Something was off. But she didn’t let that panic cloud her mind, she had a baby to deliver.</p><p>As calmly as she could, Kya went to find Hakoda who was in the middle of discussing matters with Tuluk. Confusion overtook Hakoda’s face at his wife’s approach. She grabbed onto his arm and gently started leading towards Pana’s tent.</p><p>“Kya? What are you doing out, I thought you were staying at home?”</p><p>She let out a breathless laugh. “I would be, however apparently our little one has other ideas.” Hakoda still looked confused, stopping beside Kya trying to figure out what his wife was talking about. “The baby’s coming.”</p><p>That got a reaction out of Hakoda. The confusion melted away and was replaced with worry. “The baby? You mean like-?”</p><p>“Yes Hakoda, the baby. The one currently in my body, though it now wants out.”</p><p>That got them moving again. Hakoda wrapped an arm around Kya’s waist to steer them back in the direction of Pana’s. They arrived quickly, and Pana wasn’t even surprised to see them. It was about time for their baby’s arrival anyways.</p><p>“Hakoda, I need you to get Kanna, I’ll need help, and please before you come back, take a few minutes and calm yourself down. This doesn’t need to be any more stressful than it already is.”</p><p>Hakoda quickly followed Pana’s orders, finding his mother and attempting to calm himself down, but there was only so much he could do. Bato must have noticed his panic because he set to work attempting to calm down his friend.</p><p>Surprisingly it seemed to work pretty darn well since Hakoda actually did seem to calm down some, well at least enough that Pana- or his mother -shouldn’t kick him out while he stayed by his wife’s side.</p><p>Hakoda returned to the tent and took hold of Kya’s hand. Time passed quickly and before he knew it, Kanna was congratulating them on their healthy baby girl and was handing the baby to Kya. Their little girl was smaller than Sokka had been, but not by much.</p><p>Kya passed their little girl over to Hakoda who looked down at her with such awe. She was his daughter. This beautiful little girl, his little snowflake- <em> Katara </em>; he got the privilege of getting to help raise her. As far as Hakoda could tell, everything was perfect.</p><p>What Hakoda didn’t know was that Kya still had this sinking feeling in her heart, like something terrible was going to happen soon. She didn’t want to worry him right now, and to be fair, she didn’t have enough energy to do much worrying. </p><p>Kya was asleep in moments. It would have to be a problem for later.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Sokka had been bouncing around asking again and again when he could go meet his new sibling and each time the answer was they had to wait for Hakoda to come get him. Sokka had been so excited to become a big brother and he was already saying how he’d protect them and that no one would ever hurt them.</p><p>    In all honesty, it was utterly adorable how excited he was to teach his little sibling everything he knew about being a great warrior.</p><p>    Eventually, Hakoda entered Bato and Ursa’s home, and crouched down to be closer to Sokka’s height. He explained that his little sister wasn't going to be able to play with him yet, not like how he could play with Zuko, but if he wanted to meet her, he could. Sokka agreed, not really listening, but now just full of excitement. He has a little sister!</p><p>    Sokka almost ran out of the igloo, almost, before remembering his friend was there and quickly grabbed Zuko’s hand so he could meet his baby sister too, then taking off outside. </p><p>Hakoda glanced towards Ursa checking to see if it’d be okay, only to see her- horribly -concealing laughter. She waved him off and he headed out after the boys.</p><p>He found them already in Pana’s tent. Sokka was leaning closer to the small child in Kya’s arms while Zuko looked at the kid from a bit further away, though he too had a somewhat fascinated look as well.</p><p>“Why is she so small?” He heard Sokka ask. </p><p>Kya snickered, “You, used to be just as small as Katara when you were a baby.”</p><p>“But I’m not a baby,” he pouted.</p><p>“No you’re not, you’re may brave little warrior and now you get to be a warrior for your little sister.”</p><p>Hakoda kneeled beside Zuko as Sokka kept asking questions about Katara.</p><p>“You know Zuko, you’re going to have a little sibling soon as well,” Hakoda said to him quietly.</p><p>Zuko looked down for a moment before meeting Hakoda’s eyes, “Will I be a good brother?”</p><p>Hakoda chuckled, “I’m sure you’ll be a great brother. Your little sibling will look up to you.”</p><p>“I’m gonna be the best brother,” Zuko said determinedly and Hakoda didn’t doubt that for a second. He was a lot like his mother in that way. He knew Zuko would be very protective of his sibling, probably in ways he’d seen Ursa around Kya.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    The boys stayed for a while longer before Kanna took them out so that Ursa and Bato could visit quickly before taking the boys for the rest of the night so that Hakoda and Kya could just worry about Katara.</p><p>    Bato learned over Hakoda’s shoulder to see the kid. </p><p>    “Thank the spirits, both kids take after Kya in looks,” Bato said, earning him a jab in the ribs.</p><p>    “Boys,” Kya reprimanded; they at least had the decency to look somewhat guilty. Hakoda handed Katara back over to her mother, so that Ursa could see her. “Katara, meet your Aunt Ursa.” She said jokingly introducing them.</p><p>    Ursa shot a look at her sister. “Katara? After your-”</p><p>    “Yeah, after my mother. We’d been talking about different names and just liked it the best out of any ideas we had. Speaking of names, have you had any thoughts yet?”</p><p>    Ursa sighed, “I didn’t come up with a name for Zuko till like a week before he was born. We’ll come up with something eventually.”</p><p>    “I swear if it’s the day they're born,” Kya muttered.</p><p>    “I’m not that terrible at names! I just want it to be perfect. Why don’t you tell me when you figured out a name.”</p><p>    “Five months ago. Panuk for a boy and Katara for a girl.”</p><p>    There were times like this when Ursa did not like her sister very much. It shouldn’t have been such a surprise when Hakoda and Kya had gotten married considering they both had the same sense of humor. And the fact that Kya thought Ursa’s indecisiveness was funny annoyed her a bit.</p><p>    It’s fine she still had like four month to think of a name. If only she knew just how long it would take her to pick one.</p><p>---------------</p><p>The first month after Katara’s birth was chaos, what with Hakoda and Kya now having two young kids and Sokka as eager as ever to teach Katara how to be a warrior. At this point Kanna was running out of things to keep him busy, so Ursa had come up with an idea for him to draw a little sketch of a snow fort he could build with Katara once she was a little older. Despite his young age, Sokka was a smart kid and liked puzzles. Hell, Bato had even begun teaching him little bits of Pai Sho.</p><p>Zuko, surprisingly, liked helping Pana, despite Pana having absolutely no idea what to do with children, but Zuko didn’t seem to care. He gladly helped sort different ingredients and make ointments. They hadn’t even known about this until he’d slipped off one day only to be found in Pana’s tent.</p><p>Since that first month life had calmed down more. The winter had passed and some of the ice just north of the tribe had begun to melt allowing for some spring harvesting to begin. </p><p>Kya easily just took Katara with her in the hood of her parka as she and Ursa made their way to the nearly thawed out land just north of the village that they’d visited when they'd first moved to the Tribe. Bato and Hakoda had been warned to not fall in any burrows this time.</p><p>They were back in the village just as Tui rose into the sky. Hakoda had been pacing, that much was obvious and Bato joked that ‘Koda had nearly sent out a search team. Kya rolled her eyes fondly at her husband.</p><p>Many of their days followed in a similar way. They work chores around the village, stocking up for next the year’s winter.</p><p>---------------</p><p>By the time the summer rolled around, Ursa had been joking with her husband that both children would end up with solstice birthdays. Little did she know that was exactly what would happen.</p><p>The men had left two days before for a big hunt and were getting back on the morning of the solstice. Ursa was still trying to do more than she should, but Kya had taken Zuko for the day, at least until Bato got home so that Ursa wasn’t alone with a toddler while heavily pregnant.</p><p>That had at least been the plan, that was until this second child, decided to be born on the solstice.</p><p>Ursa paced in her home for a few moments, working to calm herself. It would be fine. The child was safe here. No matter the powers they were born with, they were safe. It would be okay. After another deep breath, she slipped out of her home to find Pana, who as usual, was working in his tent, making salves and doing research.</p><p>“I thought you were joking about another solstice baby,” Pana remarked upon her entry.</p><p>“I had been, I guess this kid didn’t get the notice.”</p><p>Pana nodded, “I’ll get Kanna and let Kya know what’s happening, stay here.”</p><p>It wasn’t like she’d planned on leaving anyways. Pana was gone for less than five minutes before he returned with Kanna. Kanna told her that Kya would send Bato their way once the crew returned.</p><p>---------------</p><p>It was nearly an hour later when the ship pulled into dock. Kya had Katara balanced on her hip when she approached the ship. Hakoda gave her an odd look, confused, but he seemed to understand the quirk of her eyebrow. Kya passed by Hakoda and took Bato’s arm to guide him away from the ship. He too had looked confused, at least until Kya told him what was happening.</p><p>“Your wife is at Pana’s, you may want to go join her,” a smile danced across her lips.</p><p>“Ursa? She’s having the baby?”</p><p>“Yes, she’s been there for at least an hour, now go.”</p><p>Bato was off in a second and arrived at Pana’s a few moments later. Kanna, muttered a quick ‘about time’ and sat Bato down beside his wife. He took her hand and ran the other across her shoulders, hoping to draw out some of tension in her.</p><p>By midday, Kanna was handing a very small bundle to Ursa. The baby squirmed and Ursa gasped at the sight of the little girl’s eyes. She had a spark. A strong one. Ursa knew if word of a firebending child in the south got out, they’d have to leave. She had to protect her daughter from the Fire Nation.</p><p>“She has your eyes.” That drew Ursa’s attention away from her worry. “Were there any names you had in mind?”</p><p>“I don’t know. I’d thought I’d had an idea, but now, seeing her. It wouldn’t be right.”</p><p>Bato hummed. The little girl’s golden eyes stared up at him. “What about Azula?”</p><p>“Azula?” She looked down at her baby girl. It was perfect. Little Azula. “I really like that.”</p><p>Bato rested his forehead on Ursa's temple, savoring this moment. His beautiful wife and daughter were here and his son was with his best friends and his niece and nephew. Life seemed perfect.</p><p>The door covering of the tent shot open for a minute, letting in a rush of cool air. Bato glanced over to see… Zuko? What was he doing here? He looked a bit sheepish, but Bato knew how excited he’d been to have a little sibling especially  after Katara had been born. Zuko made his way over to Bato’s side and stood on his toes to try and see Azula.</p><p>Ursa laughed and Bato lifted Zuko up onto his lap so he could meet his new sister. The smile that grew on his face was adorable. Zuko was practically bouncing, something it seemed that he could have picked up from being around Sokka so much (or the much sadder answer being that he was now in a place where he could show his excitement without there being any sort of repercussions).</p><p>“Zuko, this is your little sister Azula,” Ursa said to him. He reached his hand forward towards her and Azula grabbed onto his finger. His grin grew. He turned back to face Bato, his little wolf tail falling even more out of place since he’d- probably -ran there.</p><p>“Does this make you my dad?”</p><p>That certainly hadn’t been what either Bato or Ursa was expecting. Bato looked to Ursa for some sort of answer, she just shrugged as if to say ‘you answer.’ He looked down to the little kid in his lap, still bouncing in excitement.</p><p>“I can be if that’s what you want?”</p><p>Zuko nodded eagerly, and hugged Bato- his new dad -as tight as he could. He couldn’t remember much about his old dad other than he was kinda scary and Mama was never that happy with him around. Not happy like she was here with his new dad.</p><p>Zuko really liked this new home. This was his favorite place in the world.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    It’s only been a few weeks since Azula had been born, when she showed her first sign of actually firebending.</p><p>    Bato was sitting with Zuko and Azula, telling them a story of Avatar Kuruk, when Azula sneezed. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, however when your child sneezes small bits of fire, there’s always a bit of concern. After swatting out any sparks Bato turned to his wife and asked.</p><p>    “Ursa dear, is it normal to sneeze sparks?”</p><p>Fear shot through Ursa for a moment, <em> she couldn’t be firebending yet she was so little, what would happen if… </em></p><p>Wait.</p><p>Ursa took a breath. She wasn’t in the Fire Nation. Ozai wasn’t here. She was in her home with Bato. She was with Zuko and Azula in the Southern Water Tribe. She should have been feeling joy. It was safe here.</p><p>Ursa chuckled. “I wasn’t expecting the fire for a while longer, but it appears Agni has other plans.”</p><p>This was going to be an adventure.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fire Nation Interlude: Ozai's New Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Howdy, so first off I just need to thank y'all. Every time I get an email saying there's new comments or kudos, I get such a great serotonin rush and it just makes my day. So thank you for all the love and support y'all been leaving after these first few chapters.<br/>Anyways, I know we all wanted more baby fire/water siblings, but I just couldn't get a chapter with all these plot points out this week and I wanted to get out a new chapter for y'all. (School's been kicking my ass this week- my lack of motivation these past couple days hasn't helped -but I knew a SWT and FN chapter would be a mountain of work to write and I didn't have the time.)<br/>Oh well, on with the chapter and I hope you enjoy. ❤</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Three years had passed since the disappearance of Ozai’s wife and son. Not that he cared, but did people think he’d still be grieving after that time? People moved on and he had, not that there was much to move on from, what with both Ursa and the boy being major disappointments.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy- Zuko his mind supplied, something he didn’t quite like -wasn’t even a firebender and if his wife had known what was best, she would have let him kill the kid ages ago, but no, she was foolish and wanted to keep the boy. Something even his </span>
  <em>
    <span>father</span>
  </em>
  <span> had permitted. He’d allowed the boy to live when it clearly would have been better for everyone if he hadn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Spirits, he hated Firelord Azulon. He should be the one to take the throne, not his soft-hearted brother. His brother who’s own son was a non-bender, think of the controversy that would it would cause if that rat ascended to the throne. People would attempt to overthrow their nation destroying all the work Firelord Sozin had done to rule over the rest of the world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai needed a new plan. Heirs were disappointments. His brother didn’t trust him in the slightest, but he always wanted to assume the best. His father never really cared at all. He needed someone on his side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thus leading him to a meeting with one of the highest members in the crime circle in the Fire Nation. While most everyday citizens knew her as a firebending instructor at the Royal Fire Nation Academy, others knew her as one of the most feared assassins in the Fire Nation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was smart, devious, cruel. She had no regard for anyone as long as it benefitted her. She did whatever it took to get the power she wanted. She could help him with his little </span>
  <em>
    <span>problem</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Then she’d be set for life. It was a foolproof plan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gave a quick rapt on the door of the sketchy building on the edgy of Caldera. What was the best assassin doing in such a dumpy place?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He was met by just the woman he was looking for. She didn’t look much like an assassin. She was small, but that could just be what she wanted everyone to see. She pretended to be this small, docile woman when in reality she could snap a man’s neck with only one hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Prince Ozai, to what do I owe the honor of having you in my presence?” She asked once she’d let him inside. She sat down on the opposite side of a Pai Sho board and offered him a glass of rum. He didn’t take it. Rum wasn’t something the Fire Prince would ever consume.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have a job for you. My father is leading to the destruction of our great nation. He aims to put my brother on the throne which in turn will lead to his son taking the throne. I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel interrupted him after swallowing a swig of her rum. “What’s the deal with the younger prince taking the throne? He gonna try to end the war or something? The boy’s like 8 right? He can’t be that much of a problem.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Did this woman not know how to speak to royalty; he thought the best would at least have trained themselves in that. “There has never been a non-bender on the throne. If there were, someone would kill them and send the nation into chaos.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you want me to kill the boy?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, that won’t do anything to help now. I want my brother dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel picked up a piece from her Pai Sho board. “And what then? You don’t have any kids. You don’t have a wife. Why would your father choose you for the throne when there wouldn't be anywhere for your line to go after, it'd still end up at the kid. What then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai didn’t reply. Izel continued,“Life is a lot like a game of Pai Sho, Prince Ozai. You sometimes have to wait for the right moment to strike, and I don’t believe now is the time.” She placed the piece at another spot on the board and began to move another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then,what do you propose?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A smirk curled on her lips. “Find yourself another wife, maybe have another kid, I don’t care, but make sure she’s on your side and willing to help you with whatever you desire. From there, find a time to eliminate your brother, preferable during some sort of battle to make it look like an accident. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now I assume the kid will end up becoming some sort of general, yes? When you get your brother killed, he’ll probably be off at war grieving his father’s death, leaving open a perfect opportunity for you to swoop in and take the crown.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That did make sense. “Why do I need to be married for this to work?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You need someone there to help pull strings behind the scenes as well as to maintain a public image of being a somewhat caring person. Really that’s just a way to get the common folk on your side. The kid’s optional since you may or may not need an heir later on, again I don’t care if you do, but it would also be for the public image business.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This could work very well. Ozai knew that his father didn’t care for him that much. He didn’t care. But in order for this plan to work, he needed to get his father to start caring if he wanted the throne. This was going to be exhausting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another question was, where did he go about finding a wife. Last time he’d had her kidnapped and if the goal was to have her on his side, then he didn’t think that’d go over so well this time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll take your plan into consideration, in the meantime I need to return to the palace,” Ozai said standing from the Pai Sho table. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel moved another piece. “Make the right decision, your highness. You never know when the relationships you form now come back and help you later.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai had a lot to think over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Ozai strode into the Royal Fire Nation Academy, keeping an eye out for Izel. He’d considered her offer and decided that she was right. It would take time, but he knew he’d get the end result he wanted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Izel leaned against a wall, waiting for all the kids to slip off to their rooms for the night. She snapped at a couple of kids lingering in the hallways before turning to address Ozai. “Did you think over my offer, my Prince?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I have, and I have decided to take you up on that,” a smirk grew on Izel’s face, “However, I do have a question for you. Your plan... suggests that I find a wife to… uphold a reputation, correct?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Izel knew at all what Ozai was talking about, she didn’t show it. “Correct.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In that case I’d need to find a lady who agrees with what this plan will entail,” Ozai took a step closer, nearly caging Izel in, though both knew that if she wanted to escape she could.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it you’re suggesting my Prince?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai ran his finger down the side of her cheek. “I think you know what I want.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel drew in a breath and Ozai leaned in to whisper to her, his breath ghosting over her ear. “I want you to become my queen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izel’s eyes fluttered shut as Ozai pressed his lips to her ear, then down her throat, before returning to beside her ear. “What do you say?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This certainly hadn’t been what Izel had expected, but a chance to slip into the Fire Nation royalty, a place where she’d be able to get away with whatever she wanted, it would be a dream. She’d have power over even more people than she did now. She would become unstoppable and with the support of the Fire Nation- the Firelord -beside her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It would be an honor to serve by your side, my Prince.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai lips twisted into a devious grin. He pulled back releasing Izel from the wall. “Then it appears we have wedding plans to discuss, dearest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>‘Wedding plans’ were not in fact anything to do with wedding plans. Rather it was plotting out even more of when to… </span>
  <em>
    <span>eliminate</span>
  </em>
  <span> those in the way of Ozai reaching the throne. Azulon was old, he’d be easy to take out when the time was right. Iroh was a general and an </span>
  <em>
    <span>incident</span>
  </em>
  <span> while at war would be easy to cover-up. Lu Ten was the problem. The boy would be the hardest to get rid of with the information they had at the moment. They didn’t know if he’d follow in his father’s footsteps and become a soldier or if with him now being the only heir in the palace, he would be sheltered there in the palace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>As of now there were still too many complications with the ridding of Lu Ten, that didn’t mean seeds couldn’t start being planted to destroy Azulon’s council and replace them with people who’d be loyal to Ozai.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The days passed, a wedding took place, a new princess was crowned, so while it seemed to the outside world that the Fire Nation was in a period of celebration after the losses that took place in the royal family not long before. However the people of the Fire Nation didn’t know of the turmoil now brewing within the royal family.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azulon didn’t know what Ozai was planning, but whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t trust Ozai, not after the disappearance of Princess Ursa and Prince Zuko. Azulon knew something fishy was going on. He’d seen the hatred the night his son had been born, he could have ordered the death of those two. So when Ozai announced an engagement to a woman- Izel, a bending instructor at the Royal Academy -Azulon knew there had to be some sort of plan in place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ozai wanted the throne. He wanted to be Firelord. He would stop at nothing to take that away from Iroh, the rightful heir to the throne. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It worried Azulon. He didn’t know what his son was planning next, not until it already happened. Azulon remembered how little his son had cared when Zuko was gone. Ozai was no actor; it was almost painfully obvious that he’d had something to do with the disappearance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This all had to be a part of some scheme, Azulon knew it. He just didn’t know how. But he’d figure it out. No matter what it took, he’d try to keep this woman safe from Ozai’s cruelty in a way he’d failed for Ursa and his grandson.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Iroh was truly happy for his brother. He’d found another person to share his life with. Iroh understood it was hard to lose a partner. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d lost his wife, Miyun, not long after Lu Ten had been born. She’d been terribly sick after giving birth to their son and hadn’t made it long after that. It had hurt Iroh, but he had to stay strong for his boy who’d lost a mother he probably didn’t even remember.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was only a couple of years after that day, when Princess Ursa was brought to the Fire Nation. It was clear she didn’t want to be there nor did she want to marry Ozai, but Iroh had hoped that one day they would be happy together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t know the life she’d come from before or what people she’d had to leave behind. She’d never disclosed such information in one of their many cups of tea shared by the turtleduck pond. In fact the only time Iroh could remember seeing Ursa actually smile was the night Zuko had been born. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iroh had hoped that maybe Prince Zuko would have been enough to warm his brother’s heart to Ursa and his son, but he was never able to tell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d thought that his brother and Ursa would have been like him and Miyun. They’d first held their relationship as only based on the arranged marriage they’d entered in, but over their time together Iroh had truly loved Miyun. Lu Ten was a representation of that love and he was all that Iroh had left of her now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Zuko had disappeared and Iroh still couldn’t get a read on his brother. Ozai didn’t seem to care all that much, maybe it was his brother’s way of coping with losing both his wife and son in the same night, but no matter what it was, Iroh couldn’t imagine how Ozai felt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iroh couldn’t imagine a world where he’d lost both Lu Ten and Miyun at the same time. He didn’t know how Ozai was surviving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he’d lost Miyun he didn’t want to keep living and breathing. He felt like he’d lost part of himself, but he knew he needed to be strong and a source of normality for his little boy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As much as Azulon was suspicious of Ozai and that he could be plotting something, but Iroh truly wanted to believe that this was finally a way of his brother being able to move on from the tragedy he’d suffered years before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten’s new aunt was scary. She wasn’t anything like Aunt Ursa was. Aunt Ursa had been kind and would spend time with him, while Aunt Izel was cold. She didn’t seem to like anyone other than Uncle Ozai. He didn’t like her. She always seemed to be planning something, and not like a fun plan like he’d wanted to plan with his cousin, but a dangerous one where someone could get hurt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>That was another thing Lu Ten didn’t like. He missed his cousin. Sure Zuko had been little, but he’d always wanted a little brother and that’s what relationship he’d hoped to have with Zuko, but now he’d never get that chance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He’d thought that maybe Uncle Ozai’s big announcement would have been that he had found where Zuko had been taken and was bringing him home. Introducing Izel and bringing up his engagement to her, hadn’t been nearly what Lu Ten had been expecting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>All Lu Ten knew was that his Uncle was planning something. What? He didn’t know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten may be young, but he knew that his father would be blinded by his want to believe that this was Uncle Ozai’s way of moving on after the disappearance of Aunt Ursa and Zuko, but Lu Ten wasn’t buying it. Something wasn’t right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The big question was what. What did Uncle Ozai want? Why did he suddenly want to marry this woman who Lu Ten had never seen before? It was all some big mystery. A mystery that Lu Ten was determined to figure out.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Bending Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hiiiii, I'm back with another chapter. I know it's been like two weeks, but this chapter was harder to write than I expected.<br/>Anways, we get more of the children and the shenanigans that follow.<br/>Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>Year after year passed. Year after year there was no sign of the Fire Nation arriving at their village to drag Ursa back to the Fire Nation. She could breath. She could relax.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her children were safe, they were growing bigger and bigger each day. They had a father that loved them freely without having to earn that love as she’s sure Ozai would have made them do. Here they could grow up as regular children. They were able to have the childhood Ursa wanted for them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure there were the ups and downs they’d had. The kids didn’t always get along and they always made up after, but in the moment it could be messy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though here Ursa wasn’t alone in raising her children. She had a wonderful husband who took Zuko and Azula in as if they were his own. It was clear just how much he freely loved them no matter what. She had her sister who was always by her side as she’d been most all their lives. She had Hakoda who could always find a way for the children to laugh and have a great time despite his own duties as the Chief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Southern Water Tribe was safe. It was home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first couple years after Azula and Katara had been born were an adventure in themselves. While Azula had started firebending only weeks after being born, Katara had stated waterbending a year after. It shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was; Kya could heal using a form of waterbeing and Hakoda’s father had been a waterbender, really it should have been a very likely possibility that at least one of their children would end up as a waterbender.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though it was a wonderful occurrence, it still terrified Kya and Hakoda. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Fire Nation had taken every one of their waterbenders, they’d taken Hakoda’s father, and now there was a chance they’d take his daughter. It was his worst fear. Katara’s bending would need to be kept a secret. No one outside the village could know. The Fire Nation would take her away, they’d kill her. She was a child and they’d imprison her and kill her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That couldn’t happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That wouldn’t happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though his parents didn’t know it, Sokka was gonna make sure of that. He was a big brother. He had to keep Katara safe. Sure he was only four, but he was determined to protect her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the time three years had passed, Zuko had begun firebending as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d been spending a part of the day helping Healer Pana, who’d decided to take Zuko on as an apprentice in training. While normally Pana wouldn’t have taken on such a young apprentice, there was something he liked about this kid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pana had no children. His wife had been taken from him long before they’d been able to have any. He had no one to pass his teachings onto. No one who’d take over once he passed, but here was this kid who loved to learn these healing techniques that would bore most other children. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Zuko healing seemed to be the most magical thing in the world, and his little sister could hold fire without being burned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pana had been showing Zuko how to make simple medicine. He left the tent for a moment to go retrieve an ingredient that they’d run out of, leaving Zuko alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko sat beside the pot that rested over the small fire in Pana’s hut. He watched the flames intently, wondering how it was possible for someone to touch flames. He remembered the time Sokka had accidently grabbed a piece of metal that had been left by fire. He remembered the burn it had left, the burn that hadn’t faded for weeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Mom and Azula didn’t burn when they touched fire. Zuko knew he shouldn’t touch the flames, but he wanted to know if he could too. It was a stupid idea, but Zuko reached forward and tried to scoop up the flames the way he’d seen Mom do when she was teaching Azula. Zuko expected it to burn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The flames flickered around his hand. It didn’t burn, it was just warm and felt nice. It was a happy feeling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He cupped his hands and held a small flame in his palms. It was like a little heartbeat. It was almost like the fire was alive. Like it was a living, breathing being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko was so enraptured in the flame in his hands that he didn’t hear Healer Pana enter the tent until the older man gasped. Zuko startled, the flame grew, nearly scorching Zuko’s face. He dropped the flames back into the fire and ran out of the tent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He weaved around people, not wanting to trip anyone. He didn’t know where he was running. He wasn’t really watching where he was running as he got closer to the wall around the village. Not until he practically ran into a set of legs. He looked up to see who it was, ready to apologize and to keep running, but as he looked up he stopped.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Dad.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Dad would know what to do. He always knew what to do. He wouldn’t be mad at Zuko. Zuko buried his face in his father’s parka, latching himself on, his knuckles already turning white from how tight he gripped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bato carefully extracted Zuko from the edge of his coat and lifted him up where he immediately buried his face in Bato’s shoulder, almost like he was trying to hide away from something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zuko, son, are you alright? What’s wrong?” Bato asked, smoothing out the boy’s hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko mumbled something into his shoulder. Bato asked him to repeat it. Zuko lifted his head, only slightly but enough that Bato was actually able to hear him this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko told him what had happened. How he’d been helping Pana, but he’d needed to go get something, so Zuko had been curious and tried to hold the fire and it had seemed nice at first, but then it had almost burned him when Pana had come back. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He was scared</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Bato figured out pretty quickly, as Zuko pressed his face back into Bato’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright Zuko. You didn’t get hurt. You’re okay,” Bato kept murmuring reassurances to Zuko until the young boy stopped trembling. “Do you want to tell Mom?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko nodded into Bato’s shoulder. Luckily for them Ursa had just returned with Kya from the fishing trip they’d been on. Ursa made her way over to them quickly, concern shone on her face. She rested a hand on Zuko’s back for a moment, before starting to rub some small circles on his back. She looked to Bato for some sort of idea of what was going on, so he told her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zuko, sweetie, look at me,” he did, though he appeared to be trying to hide as much as he could in Bato’s parka while still looking at Ursa. “Zuko, it’s okay to be afraid of something new, okay? You didn’t get hurt. You’re safe. You won’t be in trouble, you were curious and wanted to try something new.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In a quiet voice Zuko asked, ”Mom, did your fire ever scare you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ursa smiled softly, “Many times. You know, when I was your age, I didn’t have anyone to teach me how to control it, so I didn’t know who to safely use my fire. I ended up getting hurt a few times, but eventually, that fear went away. I found a teacher who helped me learn how to control my flames. Luckily for you, my little warrior, you already have someone to teach you, that is if you want to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko nodded eagerly, any fear he’d had before melting away. Maybe fire wouldn’t always be such a scary thing, after all Mom had been afraid, but she wasn’t anymore, so one day Zuko wouldn’t be afraid either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fourth year after their escape from the Fire Nation, even more changes came, though the changes weren’t unwelcome. It seemed like everyday the children were growing bigger and bigger and with that their bending skills grew stronger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko and Azula both quickly gained control of their inner flames. Zuko often liked waking up early and meditating with Ursa, while Azula would meditate, but she never really cared for it. To her it was just sitting and breathing which was boring and there was no point to it (to be fair she was also four, but still it seemed like she liked being overly dramatic about how boring meditation was.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite not really caring for meditation Azula’s flames grew stronger each day. Azula progressed quickly, wanting to learn more because she wanted to be a warrior just like Dad when she was older. She learned what Mom let her with firebending, though she claimed she needed to wait to learn some other forms until she was bigger so she wouldn’t get hurt practicing the new forms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So in trying to find another type of training that she could practice, Azula followed Sokka and tried to get him to teach her how to fight like a Water Tribe warrior.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula had seen Sokka learning how to throw a boomerang (that he’d once again taken from Kya, though he thought it was Hakoda’s) and had decided she wanted to learn too, so she asked him to teach her. Sokka then claimed that a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span> couldn’t be a warrior, thus sparking a shouting match between the two (sparks were literally shooting from between Azula’s teeth). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something that had been discovered over the years was who was the best at helping to settle arguments between the kids. Kya and Ursa usually would team up, separate the kids, have them talk it out, then figure out what to do as a truce. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hakoda would let them vent it out then take them to play a game or take them penguin sledding, really anything to get them to pretty much forget what had been happening before and to get them to get along again before actually dealing with the problem.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bato seemed to be the best at stopping arguments. He managed to get the kids to sit and actually talk about their problems, then easily come to a solution. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As for the current situation, Bato had been nearest to them, so he’d figured he should stop this before it got any worse. He sat both of them down and had them tell him what was wrong. Sokka immediately launched back to his feet and into a rant about how Azula wanted to learn to be a warrior, but only boys could be warriors and all the other stipulations that had been taught to both Bato and Hakoda when they’d been boys. Ones that at a time they too had believed however they’d later been proven very wrong after having nearly ended up on the wrong side of a boomerang.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula had pressed herself into Bato’s side, the most adorable scowl adorning her face, though the scowl on her chubby cheeks didn’t have as much effect as she obviously wanted it to have. Once Sokka finished, Bato sat him back down and had Azula tell him her side of the story, which wasn’t that different from Sokka’s. She wanted to be a warrior and she thought Sokka could teach her. Sokka was ready to argue with her again, however Bato had a question for Sokka.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sokka, why is it you think that girls can’t be warriors?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka cocked his head in confusion. “Because they’re girls, and they aren’t supposed to be warriors.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think that stopped your mother from becoming a warrior? Or did it stop your grandmother from leading our tribe as the chief when we needed her?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Auntie Kya was a warrior?” Azula asked from under Bato’s arm, her face full of wonder, replacing the scowl that had been there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was, as was your mother. They learned all sorts of fighting styles from around the world before coming here. They’re some of the greatest warriors I know,” a grin grew across Azula’s face. Bato gave her a small hug and turned back to Sokka.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sokka, that boomerang you’re holding was a gift from your father to your mother after they’d gotten married,” Sokka looked up in surprise. “Your mother has the best aim out of anyone I’ve ever met. It’s a deadly skill. I would suggest you ask your mother to teach you how to use a boomerang if you want to become a master at it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka hopped to his feet, bouncing excitedly. “You really think I can be a master?” Sokka’s own toothy grin took over his face, his and Azula’s argument was forgotten.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you can, now why don’t you run along and give your mother back her boomerang and who knows she may start teaching you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka took off in a sprint, even more excited to become a warrior in their village. He chuckled lightly and looked down to his daughter who still sat at his side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dad? Can I really be a warrior?” Her voice was small, almost like she was afraid he’d say no now that Sokka had run off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My little flame, you can be whatever you want. If you want to learn to fight you can. If you want to be a healer, you can. The only limit is your own imagination.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula threw her arms around Bato’s neck in a hug. He held her close as he stood from his seat in the snow, lifting Azula with him. He unhooked the bone knife from his belt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t I show you how to use a knife?”Azula lit up at that suggestion. “You know, it could become one of your greatest defenses one day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula didn’t pick up the knife skills as quickly as her basic firebending skills, but she was determined to perfect her skill and Bato had no idea that over time she would and truly just how important that skill would become.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the fifth year, Kya and Ursa decide that it was time to start properly training their children (considering the number of… </span>
  <em>
    <span>incidents </span>
  </em>
  <span>they’d had in recent months). It started out as an interesting process. Katara and Azula were both extremely determined to master their elements, though there was only so much they could teach in terms of waterbending.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Kya might have been able to learn to heal using different plant sources, so she’d be able to teach Katara that but she wasn’t a waterbending fighter. She and Ursa had seen some waterbenders in their travels and they’d seen some fighting, but not enough for either of them to teach someone how to become a master.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Firebending was another story. Ursa was a master and could teach Azula how to master it. However, after having thought back to a conversation Ursa had had with the Dragon of the West about how important it could be for a bender to incorporate katas from other forms of bending into their own. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>So that’s exactly how they were taught. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Despite not being a firebender, there was a certain light, a fire, in Katara that neither parent could place. She was wholeheartedly determined to become a master at the age of five. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara and Azula sped through their teachings quickly and with great ease. Proteges of their elements. It was almost alarming considering both greatly challenged the other and they wanted to move onto the bigger and more difficult forms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The boys were another story. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sokka continued with his own training, eventually getting to learn how to use a boomerang from Kya, something that had worried Hakoda more than he tried to let on, though it was clear he was quite worried about his son wielding such a sharp weapon. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko however didn’t care all that much for fighting. He prefered to spend time with Healer Pana learning how to help anyone who’d been sick or gotten injured. Sure he was dragged out by Sokka to learn how to use different weapons and while he was good with said weapons, it wasn’t passion to be a warrior as it was with his cousins and sister.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>While Zuko worked well with weapons, he struggled with firebending. It wasn’t that he couldn’t control his inner-flame, that wasn’t the problem, it was more he struggled to perform the firebending forms. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He didn’t move through the forms like a firebender. His motions were much smoother and his fire didn’t shoot out in as harsh, rapid blasts as his sister’s or even Katara’s water for that matter. It’s almost like Zuko had been meant to be a waterbender with the way he moved, but he’d instead been gifted an element that didn’t match him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>No matter, Zuko still trained himself to learn the skill. Sometimes he trained with Azula and Katara, but often he liked to be alone with Ursa just as the sun would rise, or at least when it was supposed to rise considering there were times when the sun wouldn’t make its way above the horizon at all.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That had been one of Ursa’s concerns upon coming back to the South Pole. Sure in the moment she hadn’t thought of that during her escape, but within a couple months, really only a month or so before Azula was born, that thought had crossed her mind. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She’d heard of firebenders dying at the poles due to the lack of a constant connection to Agni. She’d personally never had a problem with Agni being so far from her. She liked to think of it as a blessing from her grandfather and his way of watching out for her. And as time passed she hoped that blessing passed on to her children.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It appeared it had. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sure if one of the children got sick there was a bit more concern, but most of the time they were fine and healthy as any other child in the South Pole.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Overall Sokka, Katara, Azula, and Zuko weren’t any different from any other children. They played, they did chores, they trained, they were just kids enjoying their lives.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When they weren’t training or working, the two families would spend almost all their time together. Whether it be telling stories, pranking one another playing games, building forts in the snow (Sokka finally built the snow he’d been designing for who knows how long with the help of his little sister once he figured out that she could move snow and ice he was determined to make an even bigger fort) whatever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were a close knit family. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was wonderful to spend time together considering all the time they’d lost. They practically slipped back into their ways from before everything changed. Kanna, as always, was doing her best to stop them from doing anything crazy (seriously, who’s idea was it to try and grab onto the back of an arctic goat-gorilla and bring it home as a pet. It was honestly a miracle those four had survived past their teenage years).</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Now however they had four of their own children running around wanting to be included in their crazy schemes, definitely something they shouldn’t allow young children in on. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Many nights the families would have dinners together. Azula and Sokka could spend hours playing at the Pai Sho board, many rules they’d made up on their own, but they’d still play. It took quite a lot of convincing to get them to take breaks in their game to have enough time to eat, then they’d be able to go back to their game.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko would sometimes let Katara play with his hair, granted it didn’t always look the neatest when she was trying a new braid. No matter what she’d always put hair loops to match hers. Azula would tease Zuko about the different ways Katara would weave his hair. Azula always loved having her hair pulled back out of the way and nothing more. She thought it was silly to take time to do such braids only to redo them later. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>With four kids being so young, it was honestly a miracle they were able to keep them all under control most all of the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Most nights it was relatively easy to get Zuko and Azula to bed. However there were a number of nights where it was a challenge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tonight was one of those nights. Both Zuko and Azula seemed so much more energetic than usual, whatever it was, the children didn’t seem to be settling down anytime soon to sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula had grabbed one of the books Healer Pana had let Zuko borrow, and was trying to keep it out of his reach. Zuko chased after her trying to grab it back.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“‘Zula give it back,” Zuko whined, reaching again to try and grab the book, but Azula pulled it back at the last second.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“You have to catch me Zuzu,” Azula taunted in a sing-songy voice, dodging another attempt at Zuko grabbing his book. Azula didn’t have time to notice that she practically crashed into her mother as she turned.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa took her distraction as an opportunity to pick up Azula and take back the book. Azula pouted as Ursa removed the book from her hands and gave it back to Zuko. Ursa pressed a kiss to Azula’s forehead. Ursa laughed as Azula scrubbed at the spot on her forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“What are you isopups up to?” Bato said upon entering their home, ruffling Zuko’s hair as he passed by before kissing Ursa’s cheek. “Not driving your mother insane I hope.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Azula took my book,” Zuko accused crossing his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“It was a game Zuzu,” retaliated from Ursa’s arms, sticking out her tongue at him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Bato sighed and shared a look with Ursa. It was gonna be one of </span>
  <em>
    <span>those</span>
  </em>
  <span> nights wasn’t it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“It’s late. Time for bed,” both kids groaned, “come on, we have a big day tomorrow, you both get to come fishing with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Dad</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Azula whined, “The sun’s still up, why can’t we play outside?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“You’ve been up all day, little flame. You need rest.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“But I’m not tired.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa took over trying to reason with their daughter, “But you will be tomorrow if you don’t sleep soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula thought about it for a moment, “Fine, but you should tell us a story first.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa almost laughed. Azula’s five and already trying to debate, “Alright, one story, then you need to sleep.” Ursa said, tapping Azula’s nose.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko was already over on his and Azula’s furs, completely engrossed in his book. As Zuko turned the page, Bato slid in a bookmark and put the book to the side.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Time for bed for you too Zuko,” he said, sitting beside his son, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko huffed, but made no move to brush Bato’s arm off, rather he let himself be pulled into his father’s side. Ursa sat on Zuko’s other side, Azula now in her lap.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“How about,” Ursa mused, “the story of Avatar Roku?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Both kids nodded eagerly. This had been one story they hadn’t yet heard. They’d heard all about Avatar Kuruk and bits about Kyoshi and even Yangchen, stories from their tribe’s history and some stories from when their parents were younger, but never anything about Avatar Roku.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The story started with Roku and his best friend, Sozin. They’d grown up together. They were like family. One day the Fire Sages came to declare the new Avatar. Roku had to leave the Fire Nation to master the other three elements. It took years, but eventually Roku had mastered all the elements and only then did he return to the Fire Nation where he was greeted by his friend, now Firelord Sozin. Later, Roku married a woman named Ta Min with Sozin as his best man.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa almost stopped there, but Azula and Zuko wanted to hear more, so she continued.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sozin was convinced that in order to help the world the Fire Nation needed to take over other nations. Seventeen years after that day, Roku confronted Sozin about moving into Earth Kingdom territories, they fought but Roku spared his friend hoping he’d have a change of heart. Twenty-five years after that, Roku’s island was destroyed in a volcanic eruption. Roku got everyone off the island, but didn’t make it off himself. As he died a new Avatar was born at the Southern Air Temple.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Mom?” Zuko asked as Ursa finished the story, “What happened to the new Avatar?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“No one knows. Sozin tried to get rid of the Avatar, but even he didn’t know if he succeeded. No one’s ever found another who could be the Avatar. For all we know, the Airbender could still be out there mastering all the elements.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Now it’s time for both of you to go to sleep,” Ursa leaned over kissing both their foreheads and tucking them in. With a quick flick of her wrist, the candles around their bed were put out.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Within minutes both were out. It seemed the children were more tired than they realized.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa watched them for a few moments. They were happy here. They were safe. Sometimes her mind wandered and wondered what would have happened to her babies if she’d stayed in the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Bato wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“What would have happened to them if I hadn’t left the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Bato pulled Ursa closer. Despite it being more than five years since she’d gotten Zuko and Azula out of the Fire Nation, she still worried about what would have happened. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Ozai would have pitted them against each other, I know it. I wouldn’t have been able to protect them forever. One way or another, Ozai would have had to </span>
  <em>
    <span>dispose</span>
  </em>
  <span> of me if he wanted them to do his bidding.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It broke Bato’s heart to hear just how terrible the Fire Nation had been and what it could have done to his wife and his children. He’d tried to believe there were good Fire Nation members, but hearing these tales, it made him doubt any truth in that theory. Yes, Ursa was Fire Nation by blood, but she’d long since cut ties with them.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“That won’t happen here,” Bato said, intertwining his hands in Ursa’s, “You know that right?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ursa nodded, her eyes never leaving Zuko and Azula’s small forms, bundled beneath their furs. Azula had scooted closer to her brother and curled into his side, attaching herself to his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I love you,” Ursa murmured, turning slightly to kiss Bato’s temple. “I love you and I love our family.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Bato stood enough to be able to lean over to kiss his wife. He rested his forehead against hers. “I believe it’s time for us to head to bed too.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>So that’s what they did. And if they noticed two kids snuggling into their bed halfway through the night, neither commented on it.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>One more chapter before the Southern Raiders, I'm not ready for it. Well, that's all I gift. The next chapter will be up soon, I don't know exactly when, but it will hapoen soon.<br/>Anyways, I hope everyone has had a great holiday season and I wish you a happy new year! (May the rulers of our universe allow 2021 to be somewhat more normal).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Stories Told and Truths Unraveled</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi, so this got a little bit more angsty than I originally planned, but hey that's the direction the story went in. I did my best to mellow it out with some wholesome bits throughout. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    “Mom?” Azula asked while she worked on knotting a new net and Zuko embroidered onto a blanket for one of the women in the tribe who was about to have a baby. “How did you know so much about Avatar Roku?”</p>
<p>    Ursa chuckled, she’d figured some question like this would come up eventually, “Well, not many people other than Avatar Roku’s family and close friends knew what happened.”</p>
<p>    Before Ursa could continue, Zuko piped in looking up from the embroidered blanket, “Did you know Avatar Roku’s family?”</p>
<p>    She smiled, securing another knot before answering. “That’s a very good guess, Zuko, but not quite.”</p>
<p>    Azula answered now, “Are you Avatar Roku’s family?” Her golden eyes, wide with fascination, she’d completely forgotten about the net set in her lap.</p>
<p>    “My grandfather was Avatar Roku, making both of you his great-grandchildren.” Azula was practically bouncing with excitement at hearing this. It was clear she was about to ask a million questions, but Zuko beat her to it.</p>
<p>    “Is that why we lived in the Fire Nation for a while?”</p>
<p>    Ursa froze, dropping her net. </p>
<p>    That’s nowhere near what kind of question she’d been expecting. </p>
<p>    The better question was, how did Zuko remember that? He’d been so little, she was sure he wouldn’t remember the Fire Nation, but it appears he had.</p>
<p>    “You remember that?”</p>
<p>    Zuko shrugged as he continued sewing. “Not really. I remember there being a scary man and there was a lot of red everywhere, but not much more than that, why?” Zuko passed for a minute to think, sewing another couple of stitches. “Wait, mom who was that?”</p>
<p>    Ursa took a breath for a moment, this wasn’t going to go well. </p>
<p>    “That was Firelord Azulon’s son, Prince Ozai,” Ursa began. This would end up being a long conversation. Before she could continue though she was interrupted.</p>
<p>    “What!” Azula shouted, dropping her net and jumping to her feet. “What does that mean? Mom, why were you anywhere near that Dum-dum?”</p>
<p>    “Azula,” Ursa said softly, trying to calm her daughter down. “Come here sweetie,” Azula sat back down in the snow beside Ursa, a frown set on her face. </p>
<p>    Ursa pulled Zuko over by her as well. She hadn’t planned on telling her children this today, but she knows if she keeps this hidden then it would be worse in the future.</p>
<p>    “You both know how Auntie Kya and I used to travel the world, yes?” They both nodded. “Well, there was a period of time after we came to live here when I had to go live in the Fire Nation.”</p>
<p>    “Why did you live in that dumb place?” Azula asked, her frown still set.</p>
<p>    Ursa wanted to laugh, but that wasn’t really all that appropriate for the current situation. “You know how a lot of the Waterbenders of the villages in the South have been taken away?” Again both nodded. “Another ship arrived at our village almost 13 years ago. They were looking for the descendents of Avatar Roku. To keep everyone here safe I had to leave.”</p>
<p>    Neither Zuko or Azula said anything. They both waited for Ursa to continue, clearly enamored in the story.</p>
<p>    “When I got to the Fire Nation, I was married to Prince Ozai,” Zuko and Azula gasped. Azula was confused, hurt shining in her eyes. Ursa brushed a hand over Azula’s hair. “For about five years I did what I could to stay hidden and not draw attention to myself until I could escape. However Prince Ozai had other ideas. He wanted a child. To stay alive I did what he wanted.”</p>
<p>    She turned to Zuko and ran a thumb over his check. As much as she’d wished Zuko had been born here and that Bato had been his blood father, nothing would change the pride and joy she’d felt holding him in her arms for the first time. She’d feared he’d become what Ozai was, but holding that small baby, she knew there was hope for their world after all.</p>
<p>    “That’s when I had you. I was so happy. I knew then that I'd do whatever I could to protect you. Later, I found out I was expecting you,” she said, running her hand through Azula’s hair again, careful to not mess up her attempt at a wolf tail (though with her hair being so thick, it didn’t stay in place for long.) “Azula, I knew from day one just how powerful of a firebender you’d become and I was afraid of what could happen to you if we were still there now. So I had to run away. I came home with you two. Seven months later I was holding you in my arms Azula.”</p>
<p>    Zuko wasn’t all that surprised by the story, he knew she’d been in the Fire Nation and he also knew that Bato wasn’t his blood father, but he’d accepted this new home and life so easily. He'd accepted everything here so easily that Ursa had thought he'd forgotten everything about the Fire Nation but apparently he hadn't forgotten everything.</p>
<p>    Azula had never known any different, so this was all so new to her. She'd never set foot on Fire Nation soil and Ursa hoped she never would. Azula had been raised her whole life in the tribe. In her lessons, she’d been taught that the Fire Nation was hurting the world. She knew Ursa was of Fire Nation blood, but Azula had never known that, by blood, she too was full Fire Nation.</p>
<p>    Without another word, Azula went back to knotting her net, probably trying to pass this off as something she was completely okay with, like this was something that all children learned at one point or another. However, by the tension in her shoulders and her clenched jaw, Ursa knew otherwise. </p>
<p>    This could end up being a really long day.</p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>    Azula had been fumming for hours now though she suspected her parents didn’t notice or had mistaken it as her trying to understand the whole story mom had told her earlier. That wasn’t the case. Azula was mad. Not just mad furious. <em> Why did Mom lie to her? Why didn't she ever tell her? Zuzu had known, why hadn’t she? </em>It wasn’t fair.</p>
<p>    Better yet, why did Dad lie. He never lied about anything. Not even when Auntie Kya asked him to help prank Uncle. So why didn’t he ever tell her now? <em> Did he not love her? </em> </p>
<p>    It was just after dinner. Azula didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, so she curled herself onto hers and Zuko’s bed, ignoring whatever it was Zuzu was telling mom and dad about. He sounded excited and normally she’d want to listen but right now she just wasn’t in the mood.</p>
<p>    She heard Zuko talking and Mom and Dad responding to whatever it was he was saying. Outside, the beginnings of a storm blew, whistling through the air. The fire in the middle of their home crackled. That all would have been fine.</p>
<p>    That was until she heard a voice she didn’t recognize. Azula looked around the room trying to figure out who else was talking, but there was no one else there. When Azula was about to ask who else was talking, another voice spoke against the first.</p>
<p>    The two unknown voices continued bickering back and forth, at some point Zuko had sat by the fire to read through one of those dumb books he always had his nose buried in. Azula pressed her hands over her ears trying to make the voices stop.</p>
<p>    They wouldn’t.</p>
<p>    More sounds kept adding, growing louder and louder in her head every minute. The fire flared with her breath.</p>
<p>At some point her parents must have noticed her current situation. She could hear Dad’s- <em> Bato’s </em> -calm voice talking to her, but her mind just added it to the mess that was already there. </p>
<p>Everything was too much. </p>
<p>It was too loud, the storm, Zuko’s book, Mom and Bato’s conversation, the mysterious voices, and now him talking to her, everything was too loud. She wanted- needed it to be quiet. </p>
<p>The fire continued to flare as Azula’s breath continued to speed up. She needed to get out of here, she just needed it to be quiet. She felt Da- <em> Bato </em> sit down on the edge of her and Zuko’s bed and he was still trying to talk to her. Azula pressed her hands over her ears even harder trying to block out the noise, but it still wasn’t helping. </p>
<p>It was too loud.</p>
<p>Azula shoved the furs off her legs, yelling something at Bato (she doesn’t even know what she yelled), and ran to the door, completely forgetting about grabbing her parka as she left. She’d be fine. She’s a firebender. She’ll be fine as long as she can find a sheltered place to hide in and wait for her mind to calm down. For everything to be quiet.</p>
<p>With fire in hand Azula ran through the village until she was finally outside the walls and continued running until she found an opening in the nearby hills. Azula slowed down at the entrance. She looked inside for any sorts of critters hiding there and found none. </p>
<p>Turning around, Azula couldn’t see the village walls. There was no way of her getting home right now. She took a deep breath and entered the cave. After grabbing a couple small piles of sticks (and drying them out) Azula was finally able to get a steady fire going.</p>
<p>Azula curled herself into a ball in the wall of the cave, the fire burning frantically in front of her. She buried her face in her knees, trying to curl up as small as possible, she really wished she’d taken a moment to grab her parka before running out.</p>
<p>At least out here, there were only a couple things making noise, the storm and the fire, still she kept her hands pressed on her ears to try and quiet the voices in her head.</p>
<p>They wouldn’t stop yelling at each other. The voices grew louder despite her now being away from everything else. They sounded old and they were arguing about something. Azula couldn’t pick up any parts of their argument, but the whole time, Azula felt like her head was going to explode. Their shouting grew worse before it eventually quieted down.</p>
<p>Finally, after what felt like hours the voices finally stopped. Azula pulled her hands down from her ears. All she heard now was the sound of the wind and snow outside along with the small fire. She could finally breathe. </p>
<p>Azula lifted her head from her knees and nearly jumped upon seeing her mother sitting in the cave with her. Mom held up her arms offering Azula a hug and before she could stop herself, she launched herself into her mother’s arms.</p>
<p>Mom may have lied about who her real Dad was, but right now she didn’t care about any of that. Mom was safe. She could trust her. She could make the voices go away.</p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>    Bato was worried about Azula. She’d been oddly quiet for most of the evening. Ursa had told him about the conversation she’d had with the children earlier. He knew they’d tell them eventually, but he hadn’t expected it so soon. Still, it had happened and now both children knew. This could just be Azula coping and as much as Bato wanted to talk with her, right now he knew Azula wanted to be left alone.</p>
<p>    After having cleaned up from dinner, Azula had sat in hers and Zuko’s bed glaring towards the wall. Azula was clearly mad about something, but again, right now she was making it clear she wanted to be left alone.</p>
<p>    Outside a storm raged, whistling through the village. Most of the day had been used to secure any supplies when they knew the storm was coming. Anyone to go out in it right now probably wouldn’t survive the night.</p>
<p>    Zuko started excitedly explaining how that when he’d been working with Pana they’d started theorizing that firebending could be used for healing because the art of healing is just learning how to redirect chi into their element to rebuild the damaged area. Now all he needed to do was figure out how to make sure the fire didn’t burn anyone as he tried to heal them.</p>
<p>    The fire at the center of their home grew in frantic suges. At first Bato had thought it to be Zuko accidentally connecting to the fire in his excitement, but one glance towards Azula denied that theory. </p>
<p>    Her whole body was shaking. She had her hands pressed over her ears, gripping on her hair. She was hypervenelating, the fire flaring with each breath.</p>
<p>    Zuko had been reading by the fire, so Ursa had him move somewhere else so he didn’t get burned by accident while Bato moved over to hopefully be able to calm Azula down from whatever was happening inside her head.</p>
<p>    He sat on the edge of the bed, not as close as he’d like, but Azula needed some space. He tried to talk to her, but that seemed to be making it worse. Bato fought the urge to pull her into a hug. He didn’t know what to do. He held a hand out to Azula so that could take it if she wanted.</p>
<p>    One moment Azula was sitting, the next she’d thrown the fur off her legs and stood.</p>
<p>    “You’re not my Dad!” Azula screamed and ran out the door, into the storm, leaving her parka inside. </p>
<p>    Ursa was already throwing on her own parka, ready to search for Azula before she got too far in the storm. Bato moved to put on his own parka to help find their daughter. </p>
<p>    “Bato,” Ursa said, stopping him from grabbing his coat. “Let me find her. Something’s bugging her and I think it may have something to do with what I told her earlier. Please, stay with Zuko. I’ll be home soon, I promise.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” As much as Bato wanted to go with Ursa to find Azula, he knew she was right. He leaned down enough to kiss Ursa’s forehead, “Stay safe.”</p>
<p>With that, Ursa was out the door with fire blazing at her fingertips. </p>
<p>“She didn’t mean it,” Zuko said as silence doused the room after Ursa left. Bato turned to look at Zuko, who’d returned to the side of the fire.</p>
<p> A sad smile came to Bato’s lips. “I know son, I know. Something’s hurting your sister’s mind so she lashed out.” He ran a hand over Zuko’s hair. “I’m not mad at Azula.”</p>
<p>Zuko leaned into his side, thinking for a minute. “Dad, do you think there’s a way Healer Pana could help Azula?”</p>
<p>“I honestly have no idea Zuko. I think that’s more your area of expertise don’t you think?”</p>
<p>Zuko shrugged, “Not really,” he muttered, “but if I can figure out how to heal like Auntie Kya, then maybe. Still I don’t think Pana has any books on how to heal mind sicknesses.”</p>
<p>After a bit Zuko went back to his book, still leaning into Bato’s side though. His eyes began to droop after a bit. Zuko was fighting to stay awake. He does off after a bit longer, shooting awake at any sound that could possibly be Ursa and Azula.</p>
<p>After the third time Zuko dozed off, Bato moved him to his and Azula’s bed, promising to wake him when Ursa and Azula got home.</p>
<p>That had been nearly two hours ago. Somewhere in the third hour Bato had started pacing, just waiting, praying to any spirits that would listen that Ursa and Azula would be home soon and that they’d be safe.</p>
<p>Somewhere in the time since he started pacing, the storm had broken for a bit outside. He could hear footsteps and soon Ursa, closely followed by Azula were home.</p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>    Ursa took off in a sprint, fire in hand not ever caring about the storm. Azula was out here somewhere. Alone. Confused. Angry. Ursa had to find her. She had to protect her daughter.</p>
<p>    That’s why she’d come home. Everything she did was to protect her kids, to protect her family and now she didn’t know where Azula had run to.</p>
<p>    Ursa wanted to toss herself into an ice hole. <em> What had she been thinking? </em> The kids were still so young, they didn’t need to know about Ozai right now. She should have waited until they had at least passed their ice dodging trials before having to learn they were related to one of the worst people currently alive in the world.</p>
<p>    Neither child should have to know that, Ursa wished there’d never been a reason for them to know about Ozai, but there was always going to be the risk of the Fire Nation finding them, she’d have to tell them eventually. She just wished she’d waited, but how was Ursa supposed to know that Zuko remembered the Fire Nation. </p>
<p>As Ursa continued mulling over her thoughts she spotted a small cave with a bit of light emitting from it’s entrance. <em> Azula </em>. </p>
<p>She slipped inside making sure Azula would be able to hear her footfalls, though with the blizzard raging outside she couldn’t know for sure until Azula reacted. Azula had started a small fire in the center of the cave, hiding her face in her knees with her ears covered.</p>
<p>She sat down beside her daughter, watching the small flames flicker and twist in rhythm with Azula’s rapid breathing.</p>
<p>Slowly the flames calmed and Azula’s breathing began to even. Eventually Azula lifts her head. Her eyes are wide as they meet Ursa’s. She holds up an arm, offering a hug if that’s what Azula needs. Within a second, Azula’s buried herself in her mother’s side, Ursa shifts her more into her lap. </p>
<p>She’s shaking, and not from the cold. The storm’s died down enough that she can hear the quiet crying coming from Azula. Ursa gently rocks her daughter and rubs her back, hoping it would help her calm down. She raised her body temperature to keep Azula warm until she could get her into her parka. That could wait for now. Something was clearly scaring Azula, she just didn’t know what.</p>
<p> Minutes of silence passed, but eventually Azula pulled back enough that Ursa could see her face. Azula’s eyes were rimmed with red, her cheeks were stained with streams where her tears had run, she sniffled a couple times before speaking.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” she snuggled in closer.</p>
<p>Ursa held Azula closer. She smoothed down Azula’s windtorn hair and wiped away any remaining tears from cheeks. “Sweetie, it’s alright. I’m just worried. You ran out during a storm. What happened?”</p>
<p>Azula flinched, her hands reaching towards her ears, but she forced herself to push them back down. Azula was still shaking. “It was too loud,” she murmured. Ursa waited for her to continue, after a little bit she did. “I heard voices yelling at each other. They just wouldn’t stop. I wanted them to stop and they wouldn’t. I panicked.”</p>
<p>Azula’s breathing grew quicker as she continued talking, the fire still connected to her breath flared. She’d started nearly hyperventilating, so Ursa stopped Azula before she could wind herself up even more.</p>
<p> “It’s okay, sweetie. Those people aren’t here.”</p>
<p>Azula curled herself in tighter towards Ursa’s body. Ursa remembered the discarded parka and helped Azula get it put on before pulling her close.</p>
<p>“Mom? Why did you lie about Dad?” Azula asked, her voice full of hurt.</p>
<p>“I never lied. Prince Ozai may be your father by blood, but he will never be the one to raise you. Bato loves you dear. He was by my side the day you were born and everyday after that and if you let him, I know he’ll want to be in your life for the rest of time.” Ursa paused for a moment, knowing that Azula wasn’t convinced. “Did you know that Auntie Kya and I don’t share any blood?” Azula gave her a weird look, almost like she didn’t believe Ursa. Ursa chuckled. </p>
<p>“It’s true. I met your Aunt on Kyoshi Island when we were… 8 I believe? At the time, neither of us had any other family, so we made our own. Azula, family isn’t always about who you’re related to by blood, sometimes we’re able to pick who we want in our family.”</p>
<p>Azula was quiet again, the fire now rising and falling in time with Azula’s calmer breaths. She watched the flames for a bit while biting her bottom lip. She wanted to ask something, but didn’t seem to know how. </p>
<p>After a bit long she finally asked. “Will Dad be mad at me?” She sounded frightened. “I yelled at him.”</p>
<p>“No,” Ursa said, nuzzling Azula’s hair. “He could never be mad at you dear.” </p>
<p>And that was the truth. Bato could never be mad at either of their children. He was one of the kindest people Ursa had ever been able to meet and somehow she’d been lucky enough to get to share her life with him. To raise a family together (despite the interference that had tried to stop that from ever happening).</p>
<p>That seemed to be enough for Azula, she cuddled herself closer to Ursa as they waited for there to be a break in the storm before they tried to head home.</p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>It took a couple hours, but eventually they were able to leave (after melting through the snow that had piled up at the cave entrance). The whole walk back, Azula held tightly to Ursa’s hand, almost afraid to let go.</p>
<p>They arrived back home just as the snow and wind began to pick up again. Before they entered, Azula let go of Ursa’s hand and rather tried to hide behind her legs. Upon entering, Ursa knew Bato had been pacing. When he caught sight of her and Azula, the tension seemed to drain from his body.</p>
<p>    Zuko ran over to Azula to hug her. Ursa could hear him asking if she was okay, if she had gotten hurt, what had happened, but Azula dismissed all his questions with a meek, “I’m fine Zuzu.” Her eyes were locked on the ground as she shuffled a bit in place.</p>
<p>    Bato quickly squeezed Ursa’s hand and knelt down by Azula. He held out a hand to her, letting her decide if she wanted to take it or not. He wanted to hug her, but knew that it would be better to let her decide. She lifted her own (shaking) hand and placed it on his. </p>
<p>    “Are you alright?” Azula nodded, unshed tears in her eyes. Seeing his daughter look so heartbroken Bato couldn’t help it. He gave into the urge and pulled her into a hug. “I love you Azula, nothing will ever change that.”</p>
<p>    A strangled cry escaped from Azula’s throat. Azula buried her face in his shoulder, gripping to the front of his tunic like a lifeline. He easily lifted her, gently rocking her and murmuring soothing words in her ear.</p>
<p>    She calmed down after a bit, but made no move to even try to get loose. She wasn’t fighting against herself anymore, rather she just looked exhausted, though Bato supposed running through a storm could do that to someone, especially someone as small as Azula.</p>
<p>    “I’d say it’s time for bed,” Azula’s grip tightened (even more) on his tunic. Her knuckles were turning white at that point. </p>
<p>Azula didn’t want to let go, not tonight, not when the voices could start up again at any moment. She wanted to be close to her Dad tonight. She’d been so mad at him earlier, but now, now she just wanted to be close to him. So she just didn’t let go of his tunic.</p>
<p>Eventually he seemed to get the message. It was going to be one of those nights. Over the years there had been plenty of nights where one (or both) kids would climb into their parents bed, either because of bad dreams or they were cold or just because they wanted to sleep there that night. </p>
<p>Instead of tucking Zuko and Azula into their bed, Bato kept Azula in his arms. Ursa laid to his side, one arm wrapped around Zuko, the other around Bato. Azula stayed on Bato’s chest, but allowed one hand to grip to her mother’s tunic as well.</p>
<p>It was times like these that made their whole life seem so much simpler. Nights of just having their children close and no other worry in the world. </p>
<p>All the lights, besides the central fire, went out with a quick flick of Ursa’s wrist. The silence of the home was soon filled with the even breaths of the children.</p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>    It’d been a week since Azula’s outburst. She hadn’t heard the voices quite as loud since, but sometimes she’d still hear them whispering in her head. Mom and Dad had talked to both Healer Pana and Auntie Kya to see if there was anything they could do to help.</p>
<p>    There wasn’t.</p>
<p>    They’d tried different medications or teas, none of which really did anything. They’d tried distraction tactics, those sometimes worked, they were at least able to quiet down Azula’s mind for a while, but it would never stay completely quiet.</p>
<p>    It wasn’t always the same people either. Sometimes she’d hear the old men fighting. Other times it would be screams. On one even worse day, she thought she’d seen a person (who definitely shouldn’t have been there) standing on a passing piece of ice. She still hadn’t told her parents about that encounter.</p>
<p>    In the morning Azula already knew it wasn’t gonna be a great day, it wouldn't be terrible, but it wouldn’t be amazing either. The voices started out as just a constant buzzing at the front of her mind. </p>
<p>    Katara seemed to notice that something was bugging her right away, so she took it as her duty to stick close to Azula and try to keep her distracted from her own thoughts for as long as possible. They ended up finishing their chores earlier than expected, so Katara convinced Azula to go penguin sledding with her.</p>
<p>    Uncle Hakoda sent them off with a couple of small fish each before sending them off to the penguin hills as long as they stayed away from the old Fire Nation ship and got home by dinner.</p>
<p>    The two spent an hour sledding down the hills before running out of fish. They started walking back to the village and that’s when the voices started again. Katara was talking and Azula tried to listen, she really did, but the voices were growing louder. Still not quite as loud, but it was enough to start giving Azula a headache. She just wanted her mind to be quiet again.</p>
<p>    Azula would have preferred if she was still hearing the old guys arguing. At least that was better than the screaming that was echoing through her head. </p>
<p>    Katara was holding onto one of her hands so covering her ears wouldn’t do anything. It never did anything anyways, sometimes it seemed to make it louder.</p>
<p>    A whimper broke through the ruckus in Azula’s mind. At first she’d thought that maybe Katara had slipped, but one glance to the left shook that from her mind. The screaming fell silent. </p>
<p>    There was a lone polar-dog pup lying in the snow. It must have gotten separated from its family during the storm. Azula pulled on Katara’s hand to get her to stop walking.</p>
<p>    “Azula, wha-?” Her question fell short as she caught sight of the pup. “Azula, we shouldn’t. Mom said we had to be home soon and we don’t know if it’s dangerous.”</p>
<p>    Azula wasn’t listening. She dropped Katara’s hand and crept towards the injured pup not wanting to spook it more than it already was. It didn’t move as Azula approached it. The pup didn’t shy away from Azula. She was able to see blood matted into the pups fur around its paw, she couldn’t tell if it was the pups or not, but still she wanted to help.</p>
<p>    Katara had hung back watching Azula and the dog. She knew polar-dogs could be dangerous, but this one didn’t seem to be mean.</p>
<p>    “Katara, come help me,” Azula demanded, already attempting to move the pup on her own. The pup tried to stand on its own noticing that Azula was trying to help it stand. It almost collapsed under its own weight.</p>
<p>    “Azula’s we’ll get in trouble.”</p>
<p>    “C’mon Katara, we have to help it,” Azula said, trying to convince Katara to help her.</p>
<p>    Katara folded. “Fine, but I’m not getting blamed for your crazy scheme.”</p>
<p>    Together they were able to sneak the polar-dog pup into the village and to Azula’s house without drawing any attention to themselves. How they did so was a miracle, but neither girl was going to complain. </p>
<p>    They got the blood cleaned out of the pup’s fur. The blood didn’t seem to be coming from the injury. Katara bent some water around her hands to heal what she could of the pup’s paw. Azula then wrapped a long cloth bandage around it to secure it in place until it finished healing naturally.</p>
<p>    Katara had slipped out as the girls curfew neared. Azula’s parents had yet to come home and Zuko was at his lessons with Pana.    Azula had taken the time to feed the pup and stated to try and come up with an answer to why there was a polar dog pup there. </p>
<p>The voices had come back at some point during hers and Katara’s whole mission, still quieter than they had been earlier that day, but enough to be annoying. </p>
<p>The polar pup shifted its head into Azula’s lap, its snout pressing against her stomach. Azula ran her hand through the pup’s fur. For some reason that seemed to help. </p>
<p>Slowly the voices quieted and not long after that Azula drifted off, curling herself around the pup. </p>
<p>---------------</p>
<p>    Katara ran into Bato as he moved the last of the day’s catch into storage for the night. </p>
<p>    “Sorry Uncle,” she called as she kept running. </p>
<p>He just chuckled and finished moving the last of the fish. Once it was stored he headed home to get started on dinner. Ursa would be back a bit later than usual, she and Kya had headed out to the nearby wooded area with some of the other people from the village to harvest what plants they could at this time of the year.</p>
<p>Bato also knew that Zuko was still with Pana for at least another half hour. One thing that surprised him was how he found Azula. He’d known that her and Katara had gone penguin sledding earlier, so he should have known when he saw Katara that Azula would be close by.</p>
<p>What he didn’t expect was to find Azula curled up around a polar dog pup nearly twice her size. She was sound asleep, probably tired out from playing with Katara and the Otter-Penguins.</p>
<p>He’d have to wait for Ursa to come to a decision on what to do with the dog. Knowing his wife, she’d be completely fine with the dog as long as Azula agreed to help take care of the pup <em> if </em> she wanted to keep it.</p>
<p>Bato had just gotten a pot of five-flavor soup cooking when Ursa got home. She took one look at Azula and the pup and snorted.</p>
<p>“Good luck, trying to separate those two.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey, is that what I think of it looming off in the distance?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It's the southern raiders, I'm not sorry. Before anyone worries too much, the events of that chapter are different from the events of canon. Everything will be fine (eventually). There is no need to stress, I repeat there is no need to stress.......<br/>too much.<br/>It's still the Southern Raiders. Shit's gonna get pretty intense during all that.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Southern Raiders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's here! </p>
<p>:)))))</p>
<p>(I will not apologize for any pain I caused.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>It turned out that having a polar-dog around ended up being more of a blessing than either Bato or Ursa could have expected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Originally the plan had been to let the pup stay around until it’s paw healed, then they’d work on helping return her to the pack. However, within the first couple of days they’d already seen a change in Azula. She didn’t go anywhere without the pup, who she’d decided to name Shila. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Not only that, but she didn’t seem to be having as many days where the voices would nag her as much either. And if they did, she’d just sit for a bit and play with the pup or talk to her until the voices quieted down enough to not be a great nuisance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Pana had said something about it being just a way for her to stay distracted and to help reduce the stress and anxiety that had grown exponentially upon first hearing the voices. Of all things, this seemed to be the best way to help Azula. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>It was clear those two wouldn’t be separated anytime soon, just as Ursa had (jokingly) said a mere three days previous. But if the pup could help their daughter, why would they break them up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The weeks turned into months and the months into years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>It was wonderful to be able to see Azula acting like a child again, it was just now she had a shadow constantly following her throughout the village as she did chores, as she played, even sometimes when she’d sleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sure, it didn’t completely stop Azula from having bad days, that couldn’t be helped, but having Shila with her helped her through those days as well. On those days, she’d cling to Shila as if she were afraid the pup would disappear. And at night, she’d lay curled up with the pup as if she too were a polar-dog pup from the same pack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The children continued to grow and get better and better at their bending and fighting. Zuko, at 11, had nearly managed to crack the code to healing with fire. Sokka was on his way to mastering the skills of using a boomerang, under Kya’s careful eye, and wasn’t bad with a club either. Both Katara and Azula were on their way to mastery of the more advanced katas (at least according to what Hakoda had dubbed the Sifu Mom-Squad) at barely 9 years old.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Their village grew as well. Each day they were able to fortify their walls and defensives more and more. Their warriors trained each day and prepared for any attacks. Some of the outer villages had been attacked in more recent years, but considering there was only one waterbender left and she was in the capital village, the tribes counted themselves lucky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Despite everything, these were peaceful days. No Fire Nation ships had come to the capital for nearly 20 years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>That was until one fateful day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>It was nearly an hour before mid-day. Ursa was running through a set of firebending forms with Zuko at the small training field hidden away from most prying eyes. He’d been doing very well and flowing through the forms with the grace of a waterbender.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>All was fine until the ash began to fall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko had stopped in the middle of his set to stare up at the sky, which drew the ash to Ursa’s attention. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Zuko, we have to go now,” Ursa said, putting out any open fire and they were off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>They ran back to the village. The ship had docked. The warriors were fighting. Weapons clashed, fire flew, soldiers fell. Ursa kept Zuko hidden behind her as much as possible as they ran, wanting to shield all the sights of death from his mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>In less than a minute they reached their home. It was empty. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Zuko,” Ursa said kneeling in front of him, “stay here. When I find Azula I’ll send her to stay with you, okay?” She kissed his forehead knowing well that this could be the last time she saw him if things went badly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Before leaving, Ursa pulled out an old theater mask. She couldn’t risk being recognized. With that she was gone, her face hidden behind a mask. What Ursa didn’t see the was figure hidden beside her home, waiting to strike.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had his own weapons at the ready incase anyone, besides Azula tried to enter. No one did. He could hear the fighting outside. </span>
</p>
<p><span>More and more time passed, and still no sign of Azula. Zuko was beginning to get worried. </span><em><span>Where was Azula? Were Mom and Dad okay? What about Sokka and Katara? Auntie Kya and Uncle Hakoda?</span></em> <em><span>What was happening out there? Why did the Fire Nation decide to show up so long after him and Mom left? Was the Fire Nation here to take them back?</span></em></p>
<p>
  <span>Everything was a mess. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was so focused on his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the man enter until it was too late. His bone-swords were flung across the room before Zuko could stop it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man towered over him, an evil gleam in his eyes. He wanted something. The man brought fire to his hands. It burned differently from Mom’s and Azula’s fire; more choppy and erratic, like he had less control over his element.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko brought his own fire to hand as a last defense. He knew how to defend himself if necessary. Zuko took a stance to prepare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man’s face grew to a dark grin, “Well, what do we have here? A little war bastard. You actually think you can take me on?” Zuko squared his shoulders and rooted himself. “Kid, all I want is the waterbender. You tell me who they are and where to find them, then my crew and I will leave and you and your </span>
  <em>
    <span>people </span>
  </em>
  <span>can live.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Katara</span>
  </em>
  <span>. This guy wanted to kill Katara. Zuko knew what happened to the waterbenders taken from their tribes. The waterbenders never returned. Katara would never return if these soldiers found her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Confusion showed on the man’s face. “What did you just say to me, </span>
  <em>
    <span>boy</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko took a breath, preparing for the worst. “I said no. No, I won’t tell you where the waterbender is. I won’t let you hurt anybody else.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Clearly very few people ever said ‘no’ to this man judging by the rage that overtook his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You little shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he spat. Fire flew from his hands at Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko narrowly dodged, putting out the fire before it could burn anything. The next blast came quicker. Zuko redirected this one back at the man. The man split the fire around him. More fire came at Zuko. He fought back either putting it out or redirecting it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The man paused for a second and Zuko took that as an opportunity to try and slip under the man’s legs and out the door to get help. The only problem was, he wasn’t fast enough. The man grabbed his arm and hauled Zuko in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Zuko even knew what was happening, he felt a burning sensation over the left side of his face. The pain grew. Zuko screamed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You should have told me where to find the waterbender</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” the man growled, adding more heat to his fire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s vision started to go black. He continued to scream.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All at once the burning stopped and the second after Zuko hit the floor, he slipped under. He could vaguely feel someone shaking him, trying to wake him, but his face hurt too much, everything hurt. He couldn’t stay awake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula sat at the sidelines of Sokka and Katara’s snowball fight. Shila curled behind her with her head in Azula’s lap sniffing the flame Azula held cupped in her palms when the black snow started to fall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The warriors of the tribe were running to gather weapons and armor. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Something wasn’t right</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Uncle Hakoda was barking out orders at those who were ready for a battle. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Someone was coming</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Through the front gate, Azula could see three ships off in the distance and they were approaching quickly. They’d be on their shores in minutes. Azula, Sokka and Katara were told to go hide in their home and to only come out when they were told to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They hid in Uncle’s home. In minutes they could hear shouting and fighting. It wasn’t long after when Azula realized that she hadn’t seen Mom and Zuko since they’d left to train that morning. She needed to find them and make sure they were okay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had tried to keep her inside since “Dad said we couldn’t leave until the Fire Nation was gone” and “You could get hurt by those soldiers.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be fine Sokka, I have protection,” she said pointing to Shila as well as drawing a small flame to her palm for extra emphasis. “I need to find Mom and Zuko. What if they got hurt?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka finally relented, “Fine, but the minute you find Zuko bring him back here then we wait until the soldiers are gone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that Azula was out, running to find Mom or Zuko, with Shila hot on her heels. She saw Mom running from the direction of their home, fire coating her hands. She also had a weird mask on hiding her face, though considering Mom was hiding from the Fire Nation, it was probably a good thing. She could be recognized by anyone of these soldiers otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Upon seeing Azula, Mom ran to her, sending a jet of fire right into the soldier behind Azula. The soldier dropped to the ground as Mom crouched in front of her, lifting her mask enough so that Azula could see her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Azula, listen to me. You need to get home and stay with Zuko. Keep each other safe, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula nodded and with that Mom ran to help Auntie and Uncle with the soldiers that had swarmed them, probably targeting Uncle as Chief. Azula and Shila ran home, she had to get to Zuzu. Mom told her to keep Zuko safe, so that’s what she’d do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula and Shila ran between igloos to avoid the fighting. Getting home took longer than normal, but as the two ran in Azula could hear screaming.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Zuko screaming</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He was hurt. Someone had gotten in and hurt her brother before she could protect him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a man in their home and he was hurting her brother. Shila barked at the man, he ignored her. Shila tried to bite at his leg, but he must have had some armor since he didn’t seem to notice or he just didn’t care. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula yelled at him to stop. He turned to look at her. His hand was on fire. He was burning her brother. He scoffed at her, passing her off as some helpless kid who couldn’t do anything but yell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A rage Azula had never felt before filled her. Sparks flickered at her fingertips. She drew her hands in a circular motion and raised them to blast the man with a jet of… </span>
  <em>
    <span>lightning</span>
  </em>
  <span>? That was new. It didn’t matter right now. Zuko was all that mattered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man fell to the ground and dropped Zuko. His right eye was closed how it would normally close, the other eye was sealed shut. The skin all around his left eye was charred and reeked of burnt flesh. The smell alone made Azula want to throw up, but she could worry about that right now. Zuko could die if she didn’t do something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko couldn’t die now. Azula wouldn’t allow it. She tried shaking him a bit, but he didn’t seem to hear her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tried again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko didn’t move. His breathing grew shallower and shallower with each minute as Azula’s grew more frantic. She couldn’t lose Zuzu. Not like this. He wasn’t allowed to die. He was her big brother. He has to live. He has to be there because he’s going to be the first firebender to heal with fire. He has to live. Zuko had to pull through. He’s Zuko, he can’t die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shila,” Azula called to her polar-dog, “Go find Mom or Dad, they’ll know what to do. They’ll know how to help Zuzu.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula knew that Shila understood. Her polar-dog was out the door in a second going to get help. Azula turned her attention back to Zuko’s prone form. She pulled him closer, hoping that being close would let him know that he wasn’t alone. She didn’t notice she was crying, but she didn’t care.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Zuko couldn’t die</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Shila ran through the warriors and soldiers fighting each other, being sure to trip up as many of them that weren’t Water Tribe warriors as possible. She was looking for her human’s parents. Her human’s brother was hurt and that hurt her human. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shila had spent four years trying to help her human heal from her own mind and now that soldier was undoing her work. She was glad her human killed that waste of space, though Shila suspected her human didn’t know what she’d done. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least her human hadn’t noticed </span>
  <em>
    <span>yet.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She had been too busy worrying about her brother, but after that, there would be more work for Shila to do to help her human, and probably the brother as well, heal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After tripping a few more soldiers, Shila finally found her human’s father and nipped at his pant leg, trying to grab his attention. He needed to help his children.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Another soldier fell to their end at Bato’s machete. Kya and Ursa were fighting back to back off to his left, Hakoda had run to the front line hoping to seal the gap that had been broken moments before. Though it did nothing to turn the tides of this battle. More soldiers charged from the docked ships.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>This wasn’t looking like a battle they’d win. There were too many. Why were they even here? No one had left the village in recent years. There was no way anyone outside the tribe knew Katara was a waterbender unless…</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Unless that wasn’t why these soldiers were here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>What if they’d been sent to find Ursa and Zuko and take them back to the Fire Nation? Prince Ozai could have finally found the location of them and was now trying to take them away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The thought of that alone fueled Bato’s rage. Four more Fire Nation soldiers fell dead to Bato’s machete. They needed to get the soldiers out of here. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He wasn’t losing Ursa again. And he wasn’t losing his children.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The Fire Nation soldiers numbers were shrinking, some retreating, others lay wounded or dead in the snow. Nowhere near as many Water Tribe warriors had fallen victim to the same fates, yet that didn’t stop their deaths from being painful. There would be a funeral held once Tui was in the sky that night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>As Bato was about to take down another soldier they fell to the ground and were shoved away by a very familiar dog. Shila grabbed onto his pant leg and tried to pull him away from his position. He glanced down quizzically at the pup before noticing Azula was nowhere in sight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>While under these circumstances, Azula being hidden was a very good thing, but at the same time Bato knew his daughter and her dog were inseparable. One didn’t go anywhere without the other. Something had to be wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Shila continued pulling at his clothing and he decided to follow. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Azula must have sent her</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought. Shila weaved between warriors and soldiers fighting, tripping anyone from the Fire Nation along the way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Shila ran inside their home. Bato could smell the burnt flesh before he even entered the house. He ran inside. A soldier’s (probably the captain if the uniform was anything to go by) body laying to the side, dead. How the soldier had died, Bato didn’t know and didn’t care.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Azula was sobbing, fat tears rolling down her cheeks, as she held someone the best she could in her arms. She leaned over them, trying to shield them away from anyone else. She looked up at hearing Bato enter. Another sob ripped from her throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Dad?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She pulled her arms back enough he could see just who she was holding onto. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Zuko.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko lay motionless in Azula’s arms. Had it not been for the slight rise and fall of Zuko’s chest, Bato would have thought him dead. The left side of Zuko’s face was scorched nearly down to the bone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Dad? What do I do?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Azula asked, her voice wet with tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko needed healing. Kya was busy, so they’d have to wait to get her. Pana wasn’t far and he wouldn’t be fighting. Pana had gotten too old for that a long time ago, though he still knew how to wield a weapon if that became necessary. If Bato could get Zuko to Pana, then he knew Zuko would be safe until the soldiers were gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Azula, look at me. You need to go back to Sokka and Katara and stay with them until this is all over.” She immediately tried to protest, wanting to stay with Zuko. “Zuko will be okay. He’ll be with Pana. I’ll come get you as soon as the soldiers are gone, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>More tears spilled down Azula’s cheeks. “Promise?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I promise,” he kissed the top of her head. “Now go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Shila pulled at the back of Azula’s parka, urging Azula to leave. The two were gone a moment later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Bato picked up his son, wrapping him in a fur and darting out the door to Pana’s. Upon entering he was nearly met with a sword to the throat, until Pana recognized who it was, then his eyes were drawn to Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Put him down, over there,” he pointed to the empty bed while grabbing sterile cloth and soaking it in water. “Bato, what happened?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Pana had begun cleaning what parts he could of the burn he could before laying another damp cloth over the burn.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I don’t know, Azula was holding Zuko and there was a dead soldier in our home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Pana hummed and continued his work. The fighting outside continued, though didn’t seem quite as loud as before, hopefully the Fire Nation was finally retreating. Bato knew Zuko would be safe in Pana’s hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span> He ran back out to the fighting, indeed there were a number of Fire Nation soldiers retreating. He immediately drew his machete to fight off the two soldiers that came at him, one of which was a firebender, but after years of training beside his wife (who happened to be a very powerful firebender as well as training his children) he knew how to think fast and fight them. In minutes both soldiers laid dead in the snow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Less soldiers were in the village. A wave of fire pushed back more soldiers. And soon only a few stray soldiers stood among the Water Tribe warriors, soldiers that were given the option to retreat as well or meet their end.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>All the soldiers chose to retreat after a quick glance at their fallen soldiers. The ships pulled away from the village. The Fire Nation was leaving and as far as Bato knew, no one had been taken. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon the village would hold a funeral for all those that had fallen this day. They would have to rebuild. But for right now Bato had a promise to keep to his daughter. Right now, Zuko and Azula were his top priority now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Fire flew left and right. Kya’s boomerang flew past Ursa’s head as it took down another soldier. Once the boomerang returned to her sister’s hand, Ursa sent  two direct shots of fire to knock down the charging soldiers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those two went down, and four more took their place. They just wouldn’t stop coming from the ships. Everytime one went down more would take their place. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What were they doing here?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another soldier made a move to attack, but was quickly met by a blast fire to the face. Kya turned and pushed past her, sword at the ready, as it drove through the stomach of a soldier about to impale Ursa. Kya’s boomerang flew again, slitting more throats, returning with more blood on it than before. Ursa shot down more soldiers as they drew nearer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the distance, Ursa could see Bato carrying a child wrapped in a fur towards Pana’s hut. </span>
  <em>
    <span>One of their children got hurt. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It couldn’t be Azula, she’d seen her and Shila running towards Kya and Hakoda’s igloo less than a minute before. Zuko had gotten hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d left her son alone and he’d gotten hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next wave of soldiers got a wall of fire blasted at them. More and more fire flew from Ursa’s fists, pushing the soldiers back further and further.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d come home to protect her children, to keep them away from the dangers of the Fire Nation, yet these soldiers, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the Southern Raiders</span>
  </em>
  <span>, dared to come to her home and hurt her son. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knew firebending wasn’t meant to be fueled by rage, she’d learned that from the old masters many years ago and she’d taught that to her children. Yet, now that was all she could focus on was the anger she felt towards the raiders. She wanted them dead. She wanted the people who’d hurt her family dead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her flames grew hotter with each blast, melting through the armor of the Fire Nation raiders. They started to flee back to their ships.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Good, they should be running.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time Agni reached his peak in the sky, the ships began pulling away from the village. Once Ursa had seen them pulling away, she ran to Pana’s. On the way, she’d seen a body lying just outside her home, but didn’t give it a second thought. She needed to get to her son.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she got there, Pana had already bandaged Zuko’s face- </span>
  <em>
    <span>Agni someone had burned her son’s face</span>
  </em>
  <span> -in thick bandages. The grim look on Pana’s face told her enough. She knew the kind of burns he’d seen over the years, but this was one of the worst. This was a deep burn on a </span>
  <em>
    <span>child</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And there was </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ursa could do to help. Her son could die and there wouldn’t be anyway for her to keep him alive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pana spoke, “There was only so much I could do. Kya may be able to do more, but right now I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he paused for a moment, “But if there’s one thing I do know it’s Zuko won’t give up without a fight. He is your son after all.” Pana laid a tentative hand on Ursa’s shoulder for a moment before leaving to get started on healing up any other wounds on those who had survived the battle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She untied the mask that had still been hiding her face. She let it drop to the ground. Ursa sat beside Zuko. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Spirits, he looked so small lying there</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ursa didn’t even try to hold back the tears. She couldn’t. Her boy, who she’d tried so hard to protect could die and she couldn’t do anything. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually she felt a soft head rest in her lap. She looked down to see Shila there. She stroked the pups fur for a moment while turning to see Bato carrying in Azula. He sat beside her, his hand holding hers, though his eyes never left Zuko’s body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula’s small frame shook with silent sobs and for the first time Ursa wondered if Azula had seen what happened. She’d told Azula to go find Zuko.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Had she seen him get hurt? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula’s voice broke the silence. “Is Zuzu going to be okay?” She’d lifted her head from Bato’s shoulder. Her cheeks were red and tear-stained, her eyes bloodshot, she’d been crying for a while.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither parent knew what to say because the truth was, they didn’t know. They didn’t know if Zuko would live. They didn’t know, Pana didn’t know, even if Kya was able to heal more of the damage, there was still a risk of the burn getting infected and killing Zuko. They wouldn’t know until Zuko was out of the danger zone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, Ursa moved to better be able to comfort her daughter. There was no answer they could give that couldn’t end up being a lie. There just weren’t any, so for now this was all they could do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence once again filled the room as all they could do was wait.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>See, no one died (yet?) You can all breath, Kya's alive (and is staying that way as far as I know). </p>
<p>Also, I want to thank you to TheEmptySkies for coming up with the Sifu Mom-Squad. I'd been wanting to use it here eventually and finally figured out where.</p>
<p>Anyways, thank you all for reading!! I hope you enjoyed.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Healing Scars and Facing Fears</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I finally finished chapter 8. This was a beast, there was too many emotion to figure out, and the caharcters decided to go off script and change the plot order around, but hey it's done.<br/>I hope you enjoy!❤❤</p><p>I don't know it this counts as a TW but just in case, this chapter does talk about Zuko's scar and it's healing process bits, really the usual with any story talking about Zuko getting burned.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once the ships had pulled away, Kya set to healing anyone she could. The Water Tribe warriors hadn’t lost a great number of people (the same couldn’t be said for those in Fire Nation armor) but Kya needed to do whatever she could to limit how many more they lost. So Kya took a basket of sea plants and set to work.</p><p>    She worked in mostly silence, healing the worst of the wounds before dealing with anything smaller. Pana joined her after a few minutes, a grim expression on his face, she didn’t ask. Whatever had happened couldn’t be good.</p><p>    The sun had begun to set by the time Kya and Pana had patched up everyone they could or that would sit down long enough to be patched up. </p><p>It took Kya physically forcing Hakoda (and a small threat from his mother) to sit down before he’d let her heal his leg. He’d been limping for hours as he made his way among the people, moving bodies, lifting turned over canoes, fixing holes in other’s igloos, reassembling tents that had been knocked over, really anything that needed to be done to rebuild, Hakoda was trying to do.</p><p>    Kya pressed a handful of clean snow to Hakoda’s skin, causing him to hiss at the cold, to hopefully slow down the swelling before wrapping a long strip of seaweed (albeit a bit tighter than she should have) around his gradually swelling ankle. The plant began to glow as Kya set to work mending the tissue below the skin. Not long after, the damage was healed. It may still be a bit tender for a day or so, but at least it wouldn’t be as painful to be walking on.</p><p>    “What were you thinking?” Kya said, punctuating each word with a tap against her husband’s forehead. </p><p>    He shrugged, “There were others in a worse condition, I was fine.”</p><p>    Kya raised a brow, “You were doing more harm to yourself than good. Stop putting so much pressure on it for at least an hour, healers orders.”</p><p>    Hakoda laughed at that and kissed Kya’s cheek before, grudgingly agreeing to her terms. “I suppose I can do that.” Hakoda was silent for a moment. “I need to find Bato.”</p><p>    Kya nodded and helped Hakoda stand, despite him be adamant that he could stand just fine on his own. Completely ignoring his protest, Kya slid his arm over her shoulders acting as a brace.</p><p>    Looking around the village, Kya couldn’t see Bato anywhere (and it wasn’t hard to spot him, he towered over everyone) come to think of it she hadn’t seen Ursa since the battle. </p><p>    Something was off.</p><p>    “<em> Hakoda </em>.” </p><p>    “I know.” Worry etched across his face.</p><p>    They could have gone to check on the children. Spirits forbid something to happen to any of them and they hadn’t known. </p><p>    Seeing the flash of black hair among the sea of brown drew Kya’s attention to her sister. Fresh tear track rested on her cheeks. Kya unhooked Hakoda’s arm from around her shoulders so she could make her way to Ursa. She doesn’t ask what happened, just hugs Ursa.</p><p>    “It’s Zuko,” Kya freezes, “A soldier got into our home, he burned Zuko.”</p><p>    Kya pulls back out of the hug, “Why didn’t you come to me sooner?” Kya entered Pana’s hut, Ursa a second behind her. She set to work healing what she could, which wasn’t much, maybe if she’d been alerted when it happened she could have done more, but that’s passed she’ll do what she can now.</p><p>    She’s not able to heal the scar over, but she’s able to dull the pain that Zuko will feel once he wakes. She numbs all the muscle around and does a check for any infections. She thanks Tui and La that she finds none. After nearly ten minutes she sits back having done what she could. </p><p>    “He should live, but we won’t know for sure until he wakes. There’s nothing more I can do.”</p><p>---------------</p><p>    It had been a long night. When Tui had reached her peak in the sky they’d held a funeral for all the fallen warriors- both Water Tribe and Fire Nation. The Water Tribe bodies were wrapped in long cloths and returned to La’s embrace. The Fire Nation bodies were burned, their ashes scattered across the snow.</p><p>    After the funeral, Bato and Ursa returned to Pana’s healing hut to stay with Zuko through the night. They didn’t sleep that night. Between the constant fear that something would change in Zuko’s condition and Azula’s constant nightmares, there wasn’t any time for sleep. </p><p>    At the first signs of light, Bato slipped out of Pana’s tent for some fresh air and found himself at the water’s edge. The silence was peaceful and gave him a bit of time to just breath.</p><p>    His son could die at any moment and even after Kya and Pana’s healing, there was nothing else they could do but wait. In Bato’s experience, waiting was easier when you knew for certain a person would live, but having to see his boy under thick furs with a bandage covering more than half his face suddenly made waiting much harder. </p><p>    The sound of footsteps crunching on the snow drew Bato out of his thoughts. Hakoda made his way over to Bato, limp now gone, and sat beside him.</p><p>    “I didn’t think I’d ever see you out here like this again.”</p><p>    “I didn’t think I’d ever feel the need to,” Bato answered.</p><p>    Everyday for seven years, Bato would be up at the crack of dawn and he’d wait at the ice edge, hoping- praying to Tui and La -that by some miracle the woman he loved so dearly- who’d given everything to protect them -would be able to come home. And his luck had it so the one day he didn’t sit at the ice edge, that was the day Ursa had come home. Now nine years later, he sat here again praying that the spirits have mercy on his son and let him live.</p><p>    “Why would those,” Bato paused looking for the right word, “<em> savages </em> target a child? He wasn’t doing any harm to anyone, spirits, he was hiding away from the fighting. I just- I don’t understand Hakoda.”</p><p>    Hakoda rested a hand on Bato’s shoulder, a gesture of silent support. “No matter their reasoning it was wrong. Zuko’s a kid, he shouldn’t have had to fight a fully trained soldier. He shouldn’t have had to fight at all, but there’s nothing we can do to change that now. We’ll just need to do what we can now to help pick up the pieces.”</p><p>    The men sat in silence for a while after that, watching the sun climb higher in the sky. The sounds of the village beginning to wake behind them echoed across the empty plains. Both watched out for any sight of another ship coming back to the village. There weren’t any.</p><p>    A little while later, Hakoda got up to head back to the village needing to start figuring out where to start with the rebuilding they’d need to do after this raid and how to improve their defenses. Bato waited a few more minutes, preparing himself for the day, at least until he was joined by someone he’d thought to be asleep.</p><p>    Azula approached him, rubbing her eyes clearly having just woken up. She sat in his lap, resting her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head.</p><p>    “The soldier who burned Zuko’s dead, isn’t he?” She asked, staring out at the ocean, her voice strangely monotone.</p><p>    “Yes,” Bato answered, “yeah, he’s dead.”</p><p>    Azula nodded. “I don’t feel back about killing him,” she stated as if it had been common knowledge. Bato hadn’t even considered who’d killed the soldier, but the starburst shaped burn on the back of the man’s armor should have been enough clues to know that it had to have been a firebender who’d ended his life. Knowing the Fire Nation wouldn’t turn on their own and that Ursa had been occupied should have told Bato the identity of the killer.</p><p>    Azula looked up at him. “Does this make me a bad person?” Her voice was small, almost like she was afraid of what he’d say.</p><p>    “No it doesn’t my Little Flame, you did what you had to to save Zuko. Doing something to protect the people you love doesn’t make you a bad person.” She didn’t seem convinced. “Think of it this way Azula, Mom killed soldiers to keep us all safe, does that make her a bad person.”</p><p>    “No, Mom’s a good person” Azula immediately answered, “but I don’t feel bad about it. I should feel bad, shouldn’t I?” She bit her lip, looking back out at the ocean. “Am I a monster?”</p><p>    “Azula dear, look at me,” she met his gaze hesitantly, “You’re <em> not </em> a monster. I want you to understand that. When someone hurts someone you care about, you do whatever is necessary to help them, sometimes that even means killing them to save the person you care about. In this scenario that was the only way you could ensure both you and Zuko would have a chance to survive. Do you understand?”</p><p>    She nodded. “I wish you’d never had to go through that Azula, but know protecting those you love doesn’t make you a bad person or a monster, okay?” She nodded again, she rested her head back against his chest again.</p><p>    The sun continued to rise in the sky, most the village would be awake by now, and so would begin another day. A day of grief, yes, but also a day of strength. They survived another raid.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    The day after a raid was always the hardest. They hadn’t lost as many as in past attacks, but there were still too many casualties and uncertainties about who would live to see the next days. No more lives were lost that first night thankfully.</p><p>    Around midday Bato pulled Ursa aside and told her about the discussion he’d had with Azula that morning. It broke her heart to hear that her daughter thought of herself as a monster. </p><p>Ursa hadn’t seen the body of the soldier, but by Bato’s description of the injury it sounded almost as if it could be lightning, but so few had mastered that skill that it would be nearly impossible for a child to use that skill without any experience. Spirits, even Ursa had never been able to perfect the form, but from the looks of it Azula had been able to.</p><p>That same night Ursa sat down with Azula before tucking her in and reassured her that she wasn’t a monster. Azula asked her if she still had to firebend right now. Ursa saw the uncertainty and slight fear on her daughter’s face. She told her that she didn’t need to go through practices for a while if she didn’t want to, but that she at least needed to keep up meditation so as to not suppress her bending.</p><p>Azula agreed to that. In the mornings she’d sit with her mother by the fire, a small flame (now icy blue flame) cupped in her hands and she’d spend the rest of the day with Sokka and Katara, while Shila would practically guard the kids.</p><p>Days passed and Zuko’s condition moved from critical to there actually being a chance of him surviving. Pana and Kya continually checked the burned area, healing the muscle they could, cutting out what was already dead and would eventually rot if left any longer. After any work was done, the bandages were replaced, hiding the scar from everyone’s eyes, at least until it was healed enough to expose.</p><p>    The days following the raid were filled with rebuilding. While this raid hadn’t destroyed as much of the village as other times had, there were still sizable gaps within the village walls that needed repairing and families whose homes had been crushed.</p><p>    Whenever Ursa wasn’t helping to rebuild the village, she’d be by Zuko’s side, waiting for the day he’d wake up. Even with Pana’s reassurances that he’d make it, it still worried Ursa. What if Zuko didn’t make it, what then?</p><p>    It’s not like she could go extract revenge on the man who’d burned her son. He was already dead. She hadn’t seen the body, but she’d hoped it was painful so he’d be able to pay for the pain he’d inflicted on a child.</p><p>    They still didn’t know <em> why </em> the raiders had attacked. Had someone found out about Katara being a waterbender? Did Ozai find her and the children? Was this just another chance to tear down the Southern Water Tribe? No one knew.</p><p>    If they knew the Fire Nation’s reasoning then they may be able to better prepare for the next attack, but until then there was only so much they would be able to do to prepare. </p><p>    Ursa sat beside Zuko for another night, they’d been able to bring him home the other day. Bato would be home soon, him and Hakoda were going over some finalizations of the new fortifications. Azula had spent the day with Sokka and Katara, the three of them helping where they could, and she was still with them for the rest of the night, (there was still the risk that Zuko could die and that wasn’t something Azula needed to see.) </p><p>    She grabbed the set of sparkrocks to light their cooking fire, it took a few strikes, but soon enough the fire was going and she was able to start a small pot of the broth Pana had suggested for Zuko while he was so out of it to at least give his body some sort of energy to start healing itself.</p><p>    The broth didn’t take long, and by the time Bato got home he was able to help her have Zuko drink the broth. Not long after, they had Zuko laying back down and covered up again in his extended sleep.</p><p>    Ursa was set to spend another night waiting by Zuko’s bedside just in case he woke up. </p><p>However Bato had another idea. He pulled her to her feet and started leading her to the door. “Just for a little while dear, he’ll be okay until then. It’ll do us no good staying here stressing.”</p><p>Ursa sighed, “Fine, only for a bit.”</p><p>He led her out of the village and up to an ice shelf with a perfect view of the stars and the Southern lights. It wasn’t just any particular ice shelf. It was at this place nearly 20 years ago that Bato had first proposed to Ursa. </p><p>Ursa stared up at the sky, “It’s just as beautiful as I remember.” She turned her attention away from the sky, instead now to the man beside her. She put a hand on his cheek, “I love you.”</p><p>He turned, kissing her palm and catching her wrists in his hands. “I love you too.” Bato leaned down to kiss her, she stood on her toes and met him halfway. After the kiss they waited with their foreheads pressed together. His ocean eyes bore into hers. “You’re just as beautiful, if not more so, than when we first met.”</p><p>She blushed, “And it seems that you’ll still just as much of a sap as back then as well.”</p><p>He hummed, “Of course I am love, would you wish it any other was?” He kissed her again, not even waiting for any sort of answer.</p><p>They stayed out for over an hour before returning home where they found a surprise they hadn’t expected. Curled up around Zuko was Sokka, Katara, Azula, and Shila. They’d all fallen asleep in the time they’d been gone.</p><p>“Should we move them?” Bato asked.</p><p>Ursa shook her head, “Let them stay there for the night, it’s not hurting anyone.”</p><p>---------------</p><p>Azula watched as Mom and Dad walked out beyond the village walls. She’d heard them saying something about going out for a bit, now would be the perfect time to go see Zuzu. They hadn’t let her see him much since Pana and Auntie Kya had tried to heal what they could of his burn.</p><p>She’d been staying with Sokka and Katara most nights since the raid. Mom and Dad were worried that Zuko wouldn’t make it (they hadn’t told Azula that, but she knew that’s what they were thinking). But that’s just the thing, Zuko wouldn’t die. He was too stubborn for that. </p><p>So once Mom and Dad were out of view, Azula darted back into the igloo to get Sokka and Katara so they could go see Zuko for a bit of time before Mom and Dad got back. They’d be gone before her parents got back.</p><p>“Let’s go,” she said, slipping on her parka.</p><p>Sokka hopped to his feet shrugging on his own coat. Katara was a bit more hesitant.</p><p>“Azula are you sure this is a good idea?”</p><p>Azula huffed, “Of course it is, we’ll just peak in for a little bit then we’ll be gone before Mom and Dad even get back.”</p><p>That seemed to be enough for Katara as she too got ready to leave the house. Once all three were ready, Azula made a quick check to see if Uncle Hakoda and Auntie Kya were anywhere nearby. Luckily they weren’t so Katara, Sokka, and Azula (as well as Shila) were able to slip out of their house and through the village to Azula’s without any detection.</p><p>Zuko laid motionless on his and Azula’s bed mats, a thick bandage covering the left side of his face. The only sign he was alive was the steady rise and fall of the blankets on his chest.</p><p>Shila immediately went and curled behind Zuko. Sokka sat beside Zuko leaning up against the polar-dog, Katara on Zuko’s other side, and Azula pressed up beside Katara. </p><p>Sokka started talking to Zuko, trying to catch him up on everything that had happened since Zuko’d gotten hurt (with Katara throwing in the occasional correction to his over-exaggerated story). </p><p>Azula was content to just listen to her friends. She couldn’t help but feel like something was missing from the conversation. Usually Zuko would be there right in the conversation, teasing Sokka, messing around with Katara, arguing with Azula, but now he couldn’t do any of that right now. </p><p>Azula buried her face into the arm of Katara’s parka. If only Azula had been faster then maybe Zuko wouldn’t have gotten hurt. She could have protected him, but she’d been hiding while Zuko was getting attacked. She didn’t even know <em> why </em>the soldier was attacking Zuko. What could they have wanted with him?</p><p>And what happened to that soldier after the lightning shot from Azula’s hands. And where did the lightning come from? This whole thing was just so confusing. There was too much to think about.</p><p>She felt Katara pull back her arm and pull Azula into an awkward side hug.</p><p>“He’s gonna be okay.”</p><p>Katara said it with such conviction that Azula believed her. She let herself be pulled into Katara’s hug. The last thing she remembered from that night was, for once, falling into a peaceful sleep beside her closest friends and her brother.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Bato and Ursa let the kids stay in their little pile up that night. It couldn’t hurt letting them stay, in fact it may even help Zuko with them there. </p><p>    The next morning, both parents were making their way around the igloo preparing for another busy day of rebuilding. The kids were all still asleep (despite Sokka’s snoring) at least until they saw movement.</p><p>    They both stopped, waiting to see just who was waking up so early. </p><p>    Zuko cracked open his uncovered eye and glanced around the room blearily, eventually settling on his parents.</p><p>    Bato crouched down by the bed, running a hand over Zuko’s head, momentarily resting on his forehead checking for a fever. Luckily he wasn’t any warmer than usual.</p><p>    “How’re you feeling Zuko?” He whispered, not wanting to wake any of the other kids.</p><p>    Zuko groaned, “I’m tired,” he answered, already drifting off again.</p><p>    “You can go back to sleep now son.” Zuko nodded and snuggled back down into the nest the kids had made, asleep in seconds.</p><p>    It looked like Pana had been right. Zuko pulled through what would have killed most full grown adults. </p><p>He would live.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    Each day after that Zuko grew more aware of everything around him and eventually gained full consciousness again. He was prohibited from moving around too much until the bandages were removed just so he’d have both eyes unimpaired. </p><p>Despite being confined to his bed, Zuko still wanted to help do things for the village. Kanna was the life saver there, she had him help her mend clothing, probably figuring getting him used to doing simple things again would be the best start to his recovery.</p><p>Just because Zuko wanted to do work didn’t mean that he actually got to do that all the time. Sokka was always poking in whenever he’d finished his chores to play a game with Zuko or tell him whatever ridiculous joke he’d thought of while working, it was really just anything to try and distract Zuko from his injury.</p><p>Pana came by everyday to change Zuko’s bandages and keep an eye on the wound. Only a few days after Zuko woke up did he take the bandages off for a full day to let- what would leave quite a large scar -air out before wrapping it again for Zuko to sleep.</p><p>The burn covered the left side of Zuko’s face extending from the side of nose over his ear. His left eye was permanently squinted and the once vibrant gold had faded to a more milky gold (a sign of there having been damage done to that eye that Zuko confirmed upon being asked, he could hardly see out of that eye now). Having had to cut out dead skin, revealed sharp cheekbones that should have only been seen once remaining baby fat dispersed.</p><p>Zuko didn’t let these new challenges stop him from pushing himself to get back to how life had been before. He’d started picking up on his healing lessons (though avoided working with his healing fire practice) even after Pana tried to get him to stay resting. He meditated by the fireside in the early in the morning with his mother and Azula.</p><p>To his family it seemed like he was trying to pass this off as not having affected him and for the most part it almost seemed like it hadn’t, at least that was until Ursa accidentally firebent around Zuko.</p><p>Since the raid, they’d been using sparkrocks to light their cooking fire and this particular day, Ursa just couldn’t find them anywhere so thinking that Zuko was distracted by whatever it was him and Azula were talking about (probably the knife Bato had been teaching her to carve), she shot a stream of fire into the fire pit.</p><p>As she shot the stream of fire, she heard a squeak from one of the kids. When she looked up, Zuko and Azula were both staring at the flames with wide eyes- Azula more worried about her brother’s reaction than anything.</p><p>The only sound in the room came from the small fire Ursa had just lit. Any panic melted from Zuko’s eyes only a few moments later.</p><p>“It’s okay Mom, really.” He stared into the fire as if trying to read it’s soul. “Your fire’s different, it’s calmer. You have control over your flames, that soldier who did this,” he tapped the edge of his scar, “His flames controlled him. You and Azula would never hurt me on purpose. I trust you Mom.”</p><p>Ursa’s heart ached, when did her son get to be so wise. “You have more bravery than warriors three times your age, Zuko. Most wouldn’t want anything to do with fire for months.”</p><p>He shrugged, “I’m a firebender, it’s dangerous to avoid bending for too long. It could burn me up from the inside, it’s easier to face my fear head on than run from it.”</p><p>At that Azula, lightly, smacked him on the back of the head.</p><p>“What was that for!” Zuko cried out.</p><p>“To stop you from being a Dum-dum and running right out into danger so you can ‘face your fear.’”</p><p>The kids bickered back and forth, completely disregarding the whole interaction that had just happened and the completely shocked face their mother was sporting.</p><p>---------------</p><p>    It’d been a little over a year since the Fire Nation had attacked. A year since they tried to take away Katara. A year since Zuko had gotten hurt trying to protect Katara.</p><p>    A part of Zuko wanted to be mad at what had happened, but he just couldn’t. He hadn’t died, he’d survived and all his closest family members were alive.</p><p>    So, Zuko couldn’t really see that out of his left eye anymore- he hadn’t really understood why Mom had been so sad when he’d told her that -nor could he really hear that well out of his left ear, but at least he’d kept one of his best friends safe. That was more important than an eye or an ear, wasn’t it?</p><p>    Zuko had grown up hearing stories of how his Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle, had any of their scars. Some were more silly accidents, others were times where they got seriously hurt, but Zuko’s favorite were hearing stories on how they’d survived different battles. Those were his favorite because it was a reminder of just who they were trying to protect and that they’d survived.</p><p>    And now Zuko had a cool scar too.</p><p>    He’d survived what others wouldn’t have <em> and </em> he was able to keep that man from finding Katara, at least until Azula came.</p><p>    Zuko may not be the best bender, but at least he knew that there was a way he could still keep his family safe. As Zuko sat on the floor of Healer Pana’s tent, he channeled that belief into his inner fire. He knew in order to firebend, he needed passion (at least that’s what Mom always said). Zuko hoped that maybe, just maybe, this could be the key to unlocking firebending healing.</p><p>    Zuko focused in on his inner fire, entering a meditation sort of state. He didn’t know how long he sat like that, but once he opened his eyes he saw a white flame coating his palms. It didn’t flicker like other flames, rather just giving off a gentle pulse, just like a heartbeat.</p><p>    Carefully, he put out one of his hands, letting the other continue it’s gentle burning for another moment before putting that hand out as well. Reaching to the side Zuko picked up a medical knife and drew it across the pad of his finger. A small line of blood pooled at the edge of the cut.</p><p>    Zuko relit his hand, focusing in on that passion of needing to protect the people closest to him. He let the white flame settle before pressing it to cut across his finger.</p><p>    Zuko whipped away the blood on the edge of his tunic. Underneath, there was no sign of where the cut had been- unlike some of his other fingers that had small burn marks left over from Zuko’s previous attempts at fire healing -just mended skin.</p><p>    Zuko grinned and looked up to catch Healer Pana’s eye. </p><p>    Pana had seen the whole thing. He smiled back at the boy. He’d watched for weeks- months as Zuko had tried again and again to teach himself the ability to heal with firebending, if that was even a possibility. After all, the ability to heal with fire was still just complete theory. However, seeing it now, Pana’s couldn’t be more proud of just how far Zuko had come in such a short amount of time. </p><p>    “It seems we have much to learn, my young apprentice.”</p><p>    Zuko’s grin grew, he stared back down into the flame in his palm. Fire could be dangerous (the scar on his face was proof of that), and now he knew for sure that fire could also heal.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Zuko's alive and thriving! He has a bunch of support here so there's no need for full blown teen angst Zuko.</p><p>Anyways, next chapter is back to the Fire Nation drama. What's gonna happen? What's Ozai and Izel's plans? Will Azulon be able to stop it? What's going on with Iroh and Lu Ten? Find out soon!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Fire Nation Interlude: The Turning Tides</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hiiii, I actually have a chapter done on time for once, who would'a thought. *insert that one Captain Jack Sparrow meme*</p><p>Anyways, so I know I said chapter 7 would very the end of the angst for a bit, but to be honest I completely forgot the plot of this chapter and as I got writing it got more depressing as time went on so.... yeah, that happened.</p><p>I'm sorry, but the angst factor's just the product of most of this chapter being written during 2 am writing kicks.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lu Ten sat out beside the turtleduck pond, watching the ducklings swim after their mother. This would be the last time he’d see the palace for sometime. He was leaving the Fire Nation with his father to help him conquer Ba Sing Se the next morning. In all honesty, he didn’t know how to feel. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He’d grown up believing the Fire Nation to be the greatest of all nations and that they were sharing that with the world, but how could a nation so great believe that taking over other nations was helping them. What was attacking the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe’s supposed to help spread? Death? Destruction? Hate?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It just didn’t make sense to him anymore. What was the point of this war?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>But he couldn’t say any of this to anyone. It’d be considered treason and he could be executed just for suggesting this war being pointless, so he stayed silent and agreed to stay with his father on the front lines of Ba Sing Se.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Maybe once his father became Firelord, he’d be able to make more changes, his father loved him and would never hurt him for speaking his mind no matter his opinion, but until then there was nothing he could do. For now he had to bide his time until he could do more.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>And even then if he got to that point, he didn’t know how many people would actually listen to him. Sure he was the son of the Dragon of the West, but he was also a nonbender. And he knew his Uncle would do anything to keep him off the throne, away from having any sort of influence on the war.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Even though Lu Ten had grown from that 10 year old kid, his Uncle and Aunt still scared him, especially Izel. She was like a predator waiting to strike, but what she was waiting for Lu Ten still didn’t know. That worried him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>For as long as Lu Ten had known the woman, she was always so different from everyone else. While his grandfather and father were always watching and prepared for an attack, Izel seemed to be the one ready to plot the attack though she was just waiting for the right moment to strike. It was unnerving, but it wasn’t something Lu Ten should be thinking about right now. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He was heading off to war and would be at the front lines of Ba Sing Se in a couple of weeks. He wasn’t ready for this. It was all moving too quickly, spirits he was 17. He didn’t want to be off fighting a war that was doing so much harm to all the world. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He wanted to just stay home. He wished Zuko were still here, then maybe there would have been a chance of Lu Ten delaying his leave of the Fire Nation. He could have claimed he would stay to become a teacher to the young prince. He would have been nearly nine at this point, but now that wasn’t even a possibility. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His cousin had disappeared seven years ago alongside his Aunt Ursa. Everyone said they were dead. Lu Ten remembered the funeral that was held when they’d been declared dead, but Lu Ten believed differently. He always got the feeling that there was more to this than previously believed. He remembered all the times he’d play in the gardens with Ursa or when she’d personally train with him, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that she would never give up without a fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d seen how skilled of a fighter she was, so there was no way a couple of assassins were able to take her out let alone get away with hurting her son. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the longest time he’d thought it to have to be some sort of inside job, maybe his Uncle had been disappointed with his son so he’d had them banished then just faked a death to cover it up, but in recent months that theory was starting to fall apart even more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While Lu Ten had been traveling the Fire Nation after he’d studied under Master Piandao, he’d ended up at a small village called Hira’a. There he’d met an older couple who’d mentioned they’d had a daughter that had run away when she was 8. He learned the man was the son of Avatar Roku. He learned that his Uncle had come to this village many years ago asking the same questions about their daughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their daughter who happened to be named Ursa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once Lu Ten returned to the palace he began digging for more information on the now forgotten princess. It took time and he had to sneak around constantly, lie to his father, and avoid his Uncle and Grandfather, but eventually he was able to learn more about the woman who had disappeared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He found a report of the ship Ursa had been on before coming to the Fire Nation. The ship had traveled to the South Pole, to the capital village and brought her back with them. According to the report, his Uncle had ordered her to be brought back to become his wife. It was no wonder Aunt Ursa never seemed to like Uncle Ozai if that’s the story of how they met and got married.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One thing that still concerned Lu Ten was all the years between when his Aunt Ursa ran from the Fire Nation and when she was returned. How long had she stayed in the Water Tribe? Had it even been her choice to stay or had she been held prisoner? Then again, the report had said there was no force needed to remove her from the village.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still Lu Ten wanted to know just where she’d been in all those years in between. All he knew was that his Aunt had survived for years out of the Fire Nation, so the likelihood of her having been killed grew slimer.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That still didn’t answer what had happened to his Aunt and cousin. If they weren’t dead, where were they? Did Aunt Ursa flee back to the Water Tribe? Wouldn’t Uncle Ozai have looked there if she were alive? Did he search there and find nothing? What if they were hiding somewhere in the Earth Kingdom?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Then the thought had hit him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>What if they were in Ba Sing Se?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A renewed vigor filled him as he sat by the pond. If he went to Ba Sing Se with his father, he may just be able to find his Aunt and cousin. He knew it was a massive city, but if he took time every few days (or waited for the city to be conquered) he’d have time to search for them wherever they could be hiding.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A grin overtook Lu Ten’s face. If he returned home with the long believed dead prince and princess then maybe the time before the end of this war could become more bearable with having more people he could trust around the palace. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“My prince,” the voice of a palace servant spoke from behind where Lu Ten sat with his back to the tree, “Your’s and General Crown Prince Iroh’s parting dinner with the Firelord is in a half an hour.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He gave a small nod to the woman and stood, making his way into the hallways of the palace to his quarters. He quickly changed his robes from his training ones to others that would be appropriate for dining with his grandfather. He re-tied his topknot and inserted his crown again then heading towards the door. Before leaving he took a quick glance at the small portrait of his Aunt and cousin that had been painted before their ‘deaths.’ </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He smiled at the painting. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m going to come find you,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought. He slipped his mind into his perfect prince persona before making his way to the dining room for what would undoubtedly be a tiring event.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Dinner was a tense affair to say the least. Everything was so stiff and formal. Grandfather would ask father about the upcoming siege on Ba Sing Se, Ozai would challenge his plan, Lu Ten would do his best to change the subject by asking Izel something (trying to get some sort of read on this mysterious woman) only for her to completely turn back to the previous topic and “suggest” an, admittedly, better plan for taking the city. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Father then would try to undermine her saying something like “while she may have a brilliant mind, things were much different on the battlefield as opposed to on paper.” </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>For a moment, Lu Ten could have sworn Izel was going to kill his father right then and there, but she’d blink and the murderous gleam would be gone. She’d smile and drop some sort of crazy passive aggressive proverb that only his father seemed to understand then he’d respond with one of equal absurdity.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the time the whole ordeal was over, Lu Ten had a pounding headache at the front of his mind. All he wanted to do was go back to his room and sleep until he was at Ba Sing Se.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He should have known his luck wouldn’t work like that. After dinner, Firelord Azulon asked him to stay behind for a few moments to speak to him. As much as Lu Ten trusted his grandfather, he also knew he was a strict man and a man to be feared for a reason. If he somehow knew of Lu Ten’s treasonous thoughts, he’d be dead or imprisoned before he even left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Once everyone had left, grandfather led him to a small tea table on the overhanging balcony. A pot of steaming tea sat in the center, which Lu Ten quickly poured two cups. His hands shook as he lifted the pot.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azulon chucked, “There’s no need to be nervous my boy, can’t an old man just want to spend some time with his grandson before he goes off to war.” Lu Ten smiled at that, all his fears melting away.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Forgive me grandfather, I was just curious as to why you wanted to speak with me?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Straight to business it seems,” he took a sip of tea before continuing, “I know you’ve noticed how odd life has been here in the past years, yes? What with the deaths of Ursa and Zuko, then your Uncle marrying that Izel woman.” Lu Ten fought a smirk and Azulon’s grimace of mentioning Izel. It appeared his grandfather didn’t care for her much either. “The tides are turning and they aren’t in our favor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lu Ten, while you’re gone, I urge you to keep your eyes open. I fear something terrible will happen soon and I do not know what,” he paused again, “I sought the council of the Fire Sages, and even they did not know what was coming. All they knew was whatever it was would be a turning point in the war, whether for good or for bad, they could not know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lu Ten wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried. He knew plenty of people who went to war and didn’t return, he didn’t want to be among those numbers and Agni forbid his father to die out there either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>However with everything his grandfather was telling him, he didn’t know what to think anymore. This was all just so much and he wasn’t ready to fight in a war he didn’t even know if he believed in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lu Ten, you father has a great task ahead of him, but I worry his ambitions could be his downfall. I’d rather have you both home alive rather than have control of Ba Sing Se and you’re both dead, alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course grandfather.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azulon nodded, “Now tell me, what does a young prince such as yourself do these days? It’s been a long time since I’ve been your age.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two spoke until the tea was gone and the moon- Tui, as the Water Tribe people called her -had risen high in the sky. At that point Azulon bid Lu Ten a goodnight (going as far as hugging him, almost like this would be the last time they’d see each other for a very long time) claiming that while Lu Ten may be young and able to stay up through the night, Azulon was an old man and needed his sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish you the best of luck Prince Lu Ten.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lu Ten bowed before making his way back to his room, tonight surely had been an odd night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“You realize that once Iroh’s out of the way, Azulon will just name Lu Ten his heir don’t you Ozai?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai sighed, letting his head drop into his hands, “I know, I’m aware, which is why we need a reason to prove just why Lu Ten would be unfit to rule since my father seems to believe that even being a non bender the boy would still make a ‘wonderful’ Firelord. We can’t get away with killing two royal family members in such a short time.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Speak for yourself, you’d never guess how well big distractions do when covering up a murder,” Izel replied sipping a cup of her kuding chu tea, relishing in the bitter drink, thinking of the time she’d used a festival to cover the assassination of three Earth Kingdom nobles.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai gave her an odd look. She quirked a brow at him waiting for him to ask whatever it was he wanted to. “You’re a rum drinker, you made me swear to have you killed if I ever caught you drinking that ‘hot leaf juice’ as you called it.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She shrugged, knocking back the rest of the cup as if it were a glass of rum (something she was already dearly missing, dealing with this family completely sober would be a challenge). “I would, but Head Physician Suzok advised against rum until I give birth.” She went back to her papers, ignoring the shock on her husband’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took him a minute to find his words, which was unusual from the usually silver tongued man. “You’re pregnant?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Yep.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He waited for her to go on, she didn’t. It was a simple thing, there was no need to make such a big deal about it, that was something Izel never understood about regular people. They made pregnancies out to be such a big thing. What was so special about breeding and making more brats to run around the world? Izel supposed it had to do with the fact that people had children out of ‘love,’ whatever that was supposed to mean?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When it was clear Ozai wouldn’t say anything until she did, she elaborated. “It’s just a child. It’ll help uphold our reputation. I told you once and I’ll tell you again, I don’t care if you have another kid or not, I personally don’t care much for them, but I can tolerate carrying one and raising it. I have no preference.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ozai nodded. “Will they be a firebender?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Izel shrugged, “Won’t know ‘till it’s birthed, back to our planning, what about...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten, Iroh, and their troops left the next morning. There was no telling how long they’d be gone but having Lu Ten off their backs for a while would be a nice change. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>If Ozai had his way, he’d want that kid dead first, he was too smart and would know something was up, but Izel assured him that he wouldn’t stay around long enough to know what was happening. For some reason he trusted her.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The days went on as usual for the next months. With Iroh and Lu Ten off at war, Ozai and Izel were to take over their duties at the palace, which played perfectly into their plans. Carefully, oh so carefully, they were able to replace a couple members of the council that had been extremely loyal to his father with some loyal to Ozai.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Izel’s pregnancy didn’t seem to affect her at all. She continued her own training, classes, and work each day as if there weren’t a child growing within her. Agni above, she was even managing her crime life while pregnant. Many times the physicians would tell her not to overwork herself. She’d brush them off and get back to whatever it was she had been working on.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It got to the point that Ozai was even beginning to worry. He started doing little things to make life just a bit easier. Her- what he discovered to be overly bitter after mistaking it for his cup one day -tea would be poured and waiting for her throughout the day. He’d have all her papers for the day ready and organized on her desk each morning.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He knew she noticed, though she never said anything and neither did he. They didn’t love each other, their relationship was purely political.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They continued on this way until a couple weeks before Izel was due to give birth. At this point, Ozai was convinced she wasn’t even human, she had to be some sort of dragon descendant. There was no way any other human would be continuing on with their duties day after day when they looked to be minutes away from having a child.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took the order of Head Physician Suzok, Firelord Azulon, and pleading (though if ever asked he would deny it) from Ozai for her to take bed rest until she had the child and even then she’d only agreed to it if she could still at least do her paperwork, her argument being that she was pregnant not helpless.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A week after being put on bed rest, their child decided to make themself known to the world. Izel didn’t even notice the beginning of her labor until much later in the whole process. She’d been sitting doing her work when she felt an especially sharp jab in her abdomen that caused a small groan.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was less than a half hour after that when the child was born. Ozai had been told to wait in the hall again, though this time he was actually nervous. Last time he’d at least heard that Ursa was alive (not that he’d cared if she’d lived or died, she’d given him a useless son), but now he barely heard anything from Izel.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Head Physician Suzok pulled him in a few minutes after Ozai had heard an infant’s cry. Izel sat against the headboard looking to have barely broken a sweat, and holding a child in her arms that she didn’t seem to know what to do with.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When Ozai looked into the child’s eyes (which were dark, almost like coal with specks of gold throughout) he saw that spark he’d wished to see in his other child’s eyes those years ago. This child spark burned steady and strong, </span>
  <em>
    <span>a firebender</span>
  </em>
  <span>. This child had the gift he’d wanted that boy to have.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Izel looked up from the child to Suzok. “What is it we do now?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Generally now you name your new daughter, your Highness.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Izel pursed her lips. This was way out of her element. She knew nothing of children. She’d been alone her whole life up until recently, now there was a child that would depend upon her for things. She didn’t know what to do at this point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>However, it appeared Ozai did. “Her name will be Princess Kiyi of the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Again!” Izel called out to her class, sending them into another run of the advanced kata set she’d been working with them on for the better part of two weeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t proper for a princess to still be running a class (considering she now had a daughter at the palace that needed attention), but Izel was never one for fitting in perfectly. That was the one thing she’d told Ozai upon them getting married. She stayed with her classes until he became Firelord, after that she’d have no time to manage them, so she’d turn that over, but for now she’d continue working with them until they were the best.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As much as she didn’t care for children, she did miss working with these kids, preparing them for when they’d be leading the Fire Nation armies, really all she was doing was making her job so much easier when they finally took control of the rest of the nations. Less time would need to be spent training new recruits, which meant more people could be put in the army, which caused for their numbers to be even larger than now, making it easier to keep control.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were a number of students who showed great promise and they’d be even better with some extra direction. There were two students in particular who she really wanted to work with. Both were non benders, but their own skills could be refined to become wonderful assets to the Firelord within the next 10 years at the most.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mai was the daughter of the nobles Ukano and Michi, they were wholeheartedly loyal to the war effort. They’d be useful once they took the Earth Kingdom cities and could be trusted to become a governing family. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then there was the skills their daughter possessed. She’d seen the young girl training during breaks. She’d set targets and nail each one dead on with the knives she’d pull from within her sleeves. While Izel may be a firebending instructor, that didn’t mean she wasn’t also proficient with weapons. After all she couldn’t go around as one of the Fire Nation’s biggest crime leaders without maintaining some sense of secrecy in her abilities. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If she could train the girl personally for even a few months, Mai would become the perfect stealth weapon to take out anyone daring to start a rebellion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then there was her friend, Ty Lee. The younger girl almost seemed to be too cheerful to be friends with Mai who’d rather silently judge everyone rather than befriend them. Ty Lee was also the daughter of a noble family, but had elected to attend the Royal Fire Academy in Caldera rather than live on Ember Island with her six sisters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What drew Izel’s attention the most was that Ty Lee had mastered a unique form of hand-to-hand combat, which Izel hadn’t seen used in quite some time. The young girl had mastered the art of chi-blocking along with her own skills in acrobatics, really the girl already was a weapon but again her skills could be refined into something sharper, more deadly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As a team those girls would be unstoppable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only issue would be getting both their families to agree to letting them take private lessons with Izel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mai’s family would be easy to sway, it was Ty Lee’s she’d need to research to find out all she could. She wouldn’t be able to do that here, so once she returned to the palace for the night, that would begin her new goal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she did return for the night, she found Ozai in their room, Kiyi in his lap grabbing towards the document he was working on. She could see his patience growing thin, so she took Kiyi from him as she started working out her new plans. She knew there were always the wetnurses who’d be willing to look after the child for some time, but Ozai wanted her around just in the case she bent flames for the first time and he missed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Ozai finished the document he’d been working on, he came over to figure out what it was she was plotting out this time. She explained her plan in careful detail making sure not to miss a point of importance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re non-benders.” He said as if she didn’t already know that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m well aware Ozai, but trust me. With proper training, these two will be the greatest stealth fighters the Fire Nation’s ever seen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He studied her for a moment, “What do we need to know?” Her lips twisted to a cat-owl like grin, this was going to be fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took weeks of digging through files and files on nobles in the Fire Nation until Ozai finally found something that could be just what they need to convince the chi-blocking girl’s family to have her trained at the palace. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>From the records, this girl’s family didn’t even show up in any historic records until a little under a hundred years ago. A little more digging revealed the first members of the family had undergone name changes upon moving to the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The family still lived on Ember Island this day.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>With little need for conviction, Azulon permitted Ozai and his family a visit to Ember Island. They took the quickest ship they could and arrived at the island within a couple of days. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was near mid-day when they got to the house, leaving plenty of time for Ozai to meet with the girl’s family. He made his way to the family’s home at the top of a hill, it was large by some standards, probably to accommodate for the six children they had.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He gave a quick knock on the door and was greeted by a young woman, who looked like an exact replica of the girl his wife wished to train though just older. Her eyes grew wide, she clearly knew who he was. She bowed and allowed him to enter, then ran off to find her parents.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Once they were sat down at the dining table Ozai got right down to business, not wanting to spend more time here than necessary.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“It’s an honor to have you in our home Prince Ozai,” the girl’s mother said, “May I ask what brings you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Your daughter attends the Royal Fire Nation Academy and is a wonderful student. My wife wishes to be able to personally train her to be a part of an elite team in the near future.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Our little Ty Lee? It’s an honor that Princess Izel sees so much in our little girl, but I don’t know if that’s the right thing for her, she’s so young,” the girl- Ty Lee’s -father answered.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai leaned forward, folding his hands and leaning onto the table. “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. Your daughter will be trained by Izel or the Firelord will learn that Firelord Sozin failed to whip out all the Air Nation, starting first with Ty Lee,” Ozai said with a cruel smirk on his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Silence hung heavy in the air, both parents had paled extremely. Turns out the information had been true and not just a rumor.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“How-”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“The method of which I know this is none of your concern, your answer?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The girl’s father visibly gulped. “It will be an honor for Ty Lee to be trained by Master Izel,” he bowed, trembling.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai concluded his business there and headed back to his own house, glad to be done with this. In all honesty it had been extremely boring, he’d expected them to fight back more or try to claim to be of Fire Nation blood, but they’d done neither and folded so quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Oh well, at least it left time for Ozai to actually enjoy this time away from his father. Really any time he got away from that man was a blessing.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When he arrived, he was greeted by Izel out on the porch. She held one hand behind her back and pressed her other against his chest as she kissed him (something she didn’t often casually do).</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Before he could ask, she pulled a scroll out from behind her back and unraveled it revealing a portrait of a baby who couldn’t have been older than a year. It couldn’t be his other child, he’d stayed away from that kid as much as he could and he’d never brought that boy to Ember Island, and it wasn’t Iroh which meant it could only be….</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Oh…</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Oh no...</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He reached to grab it from her, but she was quicker using one hand to hold him back and the other to hold the demeaning portrait further away.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“So it is you?” A playful smirk overtook her face, her eyes glinting with mischief.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>With a quick maneuver, he was able to press her against the wall (something he suspected she let him do) of the house and take the portrait from her. He lit it ablaze, letting the ash float down to the deck and blow away with the soft breeze.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She laughed and pulled him inside. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>(Maybe in another lifetime he could have loved Izel, if he allowed such room in his heart. They could have been a proper family, but alas it wasn’t like that at all, though small moments like this they both cherished, yet never mentioned it to the other.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Nearly 600 days had passed since Iroh and Lu Ten had arrived at Ba Sing Se. So much had happened in that time. They’d advanced closer and closer to the outer wall each day and were getting even closer to breaking through.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Of course they’d had a few mishaps, that wasn’t uncommon in war, but Iroh was always confident they’d pull through, and they did. Still it was taking much longer that Iroh wanted to seize the city, though he supposed it would make it just that much more impressive once they finally seized the impenetrable city.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh sat reading another letter from his father, preparing a reply. His father told him the going ons of the palace, and ‘warned’ him that Ozai was plotting something, whatever that meant. Ozai had great ambitions, but he wouldn’t kill his own brother (or his nephew) to complete them, especially now that he had a young daughter who’d need him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Izel, however, Iroh would be looking out for. There was just something about the woman that was… unsettling. In the beginning, Iroh had wanted to assume the best in her, but as he’d seen more and more of her, he quickly learned she was much more dangerous than she seemed at first. If anything Iroh was more concerned for Ozai. Did he know that about the woman he’d married?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh mostly ignored his father’s warnings, choosing rather to hear more about his niece. He couldn’t wait for when he was finally able to return to the Fire Nation and meet her. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The only time Ozai wrote in in the 600 days since Iroh had left the Fire Nation had been to inform him of the new princess’ birth. Kiyi, they’d named her. Ozai claimed she’d been born with the spark and it was only a matter of time before she began firebending.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh was happy for his brother. He knew the toll of losing Zuko had affected his brother, as much as he tried to hide it, losing a child was a feeling that just couldn’t be ignored. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh wrote a new letter back to the palace, including a doll for little Princess Kiyi, before handing it off to a messenger to send. He made his way to where Lu Ten was working with some of the new recruits. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten had come a long way in the near two years they’d been in the Earth Kingdom. He would make a fine General (and even better Firelord) when the time came. Lu Ten was always alert, ready for someone to attack their soldiers, he’d do whatever in his power to secure attacks so as few people as possible were lost. More often than not Lu Ten’s changes worked great, sometimes they’d even push back the Earth Kingdom soldiers further than originally planned.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When Lu Ten noticed his arrival, he dismissed the recruits to go rest for the night, since the next day they were finally going to breach the Outer Wall. Lu Ten bowed to him, but Iroh was having none of that, he hugged his son and urged him to walk beside him as they walked through the camp.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“How are you feeling about tomorrow, my son?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten hesitated for a moment “Are you sure we’re ready to make such a big move right now, father?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Why do you ask Lu Ten?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I trust you father, but I’m just worried. I feel like something terrible could happen tomorrow if even the slightest thing goes wrong.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>There was pure fear in Lu Ten’s eyes. Iroh did his best to quell that fear. “There’s no need to worry. Every move we’ve laid out so carefully over the two years we’ve been here, the Earth Kingdom won’t even know what hit them, then we’ll return home with Ba Sing Se under our control.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten nodded, still very unsure about this whole thing, but by tomorrow night, Iroh knew his fears would be nothing but a distant memory. Lu Ten bid him a goodnight.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The next day everything was flowing perfectly. The Earth Kingdom soldiers fell further and further back, they got closer and closer to the wall. The Earth Kingdom General surrendered, knowing this would be a battle he’d lose even more men in if he didn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh dismounted his Komodo-Rhino, a set of bending suppressant cuffs in hand, and that’s where everything went wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he walked the short distance to the General, he heard Lu Ten shout, and before he could even respond it became uncomfortably hard to breath, then everything went black. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten saw the soldier hidden off to the Earth General side, he shouted for his father to stop all while dismounting his Komodo-Rhino in hopes of reaching his father in time to knock him out of the way of whatever attack was to come.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>He was too slow</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A rock flew forward, crushing his father’s chest. A Colonel called for a retreat, but Lu Ten moved forward to where his father was, ducking around the chaos of fighting breaking out around him. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Using purely adrenaline, Lu Ten was able to get the rock of his father’s chest. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Agni, there was so much blood.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He grabbed his father’s wrist, searching for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iroh groaned, his eyes opening. “Lu Ten,” he clasped his hand as tight as he could. “My boy, I don’t have much time,” he took a shaky breath. “I should have listened to you, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Lu Ten.” He coughed, blood covering his mouth. “I love you so much my son, and I’m so proud of the young man you’ve become.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>His eyes fell closed again, Lu Ten frantically searched for a pulse, and found none. A Fire Nation soldier pulled at his shoulder, trying to get him out of there, he had to go now if he wanted to live, but he couldn’t leave his father. He couldn’t, but they had to.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They arrived back at the camp. The Earth Kingdom soldiers hadn’t followed them there. Lu Ten sat down ignoring all the blood on his hands. He was so numb. This couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t be. His father couldn’t die. They were supposed to go home together. This had to be some nightmare, but the stinging pain in Lu Ten’s leg said otherwise.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Grandfather had wanted them both home rather than have a city and now he’d have neither. What were they supposed to do? What happened now? </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten moved through the motions of cleaning up after a battle on autopilot, he couldn’t process any of this now. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>It should have been me,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought pulling his boot off his now swollen leg. That’s what finally broke Lu Ten. He wept for what felt like hours. His chest burned, his eyes stung, his head was pounding, this was all just too much. He didn’t know what to do now. He’d already lost his mother such a long time ago that he had no memories of her and now he’d lost his father. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just didn’t know what to do anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took a couple of days for a new set of orders to be sent out. By order of Firelord Azulon, the troops were to pull out of Fire Nation territory and return to their original stations whether that be in the homeland or the colonies. By the end of the week, the troops were leaving the area of Ba Sing Se. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten stared out across the surrounding ocean as the boat cut through the waters. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about this whole change. His father was dead (they’d been able to recover his body and it was wrapped below deck). He didn’t know his place anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He knew that one day he’d become Crown Prince, he just didn’t think it’d be so soon and under such terrible circumstances. He wasn’t ready for any of this. No matter what his father had thought or whatever his grandfather would think, he wasn’t ready. He didn’t fit in with the rest of the royal family. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They were all such powerful benders, </span>
  <em>
    <span>spirits even his new cousin would have the ability to firebend</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he was just a guy who knew how to use a sword and fight till the last moment. And now to think that he’d take the throne one day sooner than he ever expected, it brought back all those thoughts he’d had before leaving for Ba Sing Se.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He’d been so preoccupied with trying to keep as many people alive as possible as well as searching for any clue on where his Aunt and cousin that he hadn’t even taken time to figure out what all those thoughts had been about. And now with the title of Crown Prince weighing down on him, he began to wonder what he’d do as Firelord.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>End the war?</span>
  </em>
  <span> A quiet voice in the back of his head whispered, that same voice that had been whispering treasonous thoughts for so long that he’d gotten good at completely ignoring it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the time they docked in the Fire Nation, Lu Ten had forgotten about his previous thoughts. He was finally home, but why didn’t it feel like home anymore. He walked through the palace hallways which suddenly felt so much more empty than they used to, his room felt more suffocating than he remembered. The only place that still felt the same was the gardens with the turtleduck pond.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>As he made his way there, he saw Izel sitting by his tree with a child, who he could only assume to be Kiyi, in her lap as she attempted to reach towards the baby turtleducks swimming around.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I didn’t know you liked the gardens?” He said as a way of greeting, he still didn’t really know how to talk to Izel without it sounding weird.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She didn’t look away from the child in her lap. “I don’t, but this little one decided the only way she’d stop crying would be if I brought her here.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten sat beside Izel, leaving plenty of space between them since they weren’t close at all. Kiyi’s attention shifted from the turtleducks to the Lu Ten. She made a grabbing motion at him, waving around the doll his father had gotten for her.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Izel noticed and simply handed him the kid. “Lu Ten this is Kiyi.” He already knew that but thought it was kinda sweet that Izel was at least trying to fit this new mothering role that he doubted she had much experience in.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Kiyi giggled and cried out “Lu-Lu!”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>As awkward as Lu Ten felt being back in the Fire Nation, he wouldn’t miss meeting his cousin for the world. She was so small and innocent that Lu Ten almost forgot about all his previous concerns, content to just spend as much time as he could with Kiyi before figuring out what to do with his life now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was late in the night when Azulon summoned Lu Ten to his office. A steaming pot of tea sat on the desk between them. Lu Ten reached to pour two cups of tea, but Azulon batted his hand away and pulled a bottle of fire whiskey out and poured that into the cups.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Neither spoke for the longest time. Azulon wasn’t quite sure what to say, yes he’d lost his son and that pain was terrible, but Lu Ten had lost his only parent left and in the worst way possible. From the letter he’d gotten, Iroh had died only minutes after Lu Ten had gotten the boulder off of him and they hadn’t even been able to recover his body until later.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azulon wasn’t good with emotions, so he moved straight onto business. With Iroh dead and no longer able to fulfill his duties as Crown Prince, that title now fell to Lu Ten.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I don’t know if I’m ready for that, I mean I just-” Lu Ten cut himself off. “I never thought I’d be here so soon. There’s still so much I don’t know and how can I even ascend the throne, I’m not a firebender.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Lu Ten, you’re more prepared than you give yourself credit for. You’ll do the right thing when the time comes, and the whole firebending thing doesn’t matter all that much anyways, we’ve had previous Firelords who weren’t benders and they did good for our great nation.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten stared out the window at the grand city for a moment. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel so lost now. For so long I’ve always had a plan of what to do but now, I just don’t know anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azulon had already had his will rewritten, stating that if anything were to happen to him then Lu Ten was to be crowned Firelord. He told Lu Ten this, who just silently nodded, still looking so lost and unsure of what to do. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“There are always new divisions looking for someone to train them, if you wish, I could assign you one of them for the time being.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten finally met his eyes. “I can do that.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Alright, I’ll have your assignment within the next couple of days.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Within a couple of days Lu Ten was boarding a ship to return to the Earth Kingdom to begin training a group of soldiers advancing along the Earth Kingdom southern coast cities. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai knelt before Firelord Azulon and his wall of golden flames. He’d requested this meeting just days after Lu Ten left to spend time training divisions of new recruits. No doubt his father was wondering just why he’d wanted to speak to him, he’d just hoped he’d have enough time to get his points across.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Rise Prince Ozai, now what is it you wished to ask me?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Father, I offer myself to you as heir-”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Before he even had a chance to continue, Azulon cut him off, “What makes you think I’ll replace Crown Prince Lu Ten so quickly?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Father, there is no guarantee Lu Ten will come back alive and as of now has no heirs of his own, but I’m here. I have an heir-”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Silence!” Azulon shouted, the flames flaring with his anger. “You dare come in here and tell me to cut out my only grandson, the rightful heir to the Dragon Throne, your future firelord, and for what? You’re own gain. Get out of my sight, you’re lucky I’m not imprisoning nor banishing you for this transgression, but I warn you Ozai, you step one foot out of line and I will not hesitate to do either. Leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai stood, bowing deeply to the Firelord, and turning to leave, all while hiding the look of disgust on his face at his father claiming Lu Ten to be the next Firelord. The boy was a nonbender for Agni’s sake. He couldn’t hold any claim to the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fire</span>
  </em>
  <span> throne if he couldn’t even bend fire to begin with. Honestly what was even going through that old man’s head these days.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Ozai arrived back at his quarters to see Izel mulling over her paperwork, Kiyi balanced on her hip as she worked. He’d been surprised at how quickly she’d gotten the hang of the whole ‘mothering’ thing after those first weeks considering how foreign this whole thing was to her (really to both of them, but they’d do what they had to to train this child to become one of the greatest firebenders in the Nation.)</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She didn’t even look up before asking, “I take it, it didn’t go well.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“It went about as well as I’d expected,” Izel hummed in understanding, “We may have to go through with plan B.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Alright then.” She handed him Kiyi, so she could use both hands to unlock the hidden compartment in her top desk drawer. Inside was a small vial of an untraceable poison. She slid the vial up her sleeve, for when she’d slip into the kitchens and add it to Azulon’s evening tea.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By morning, he’d be dead and Ozai would be crowned Firelord with Izel as his Queen, just like he’d wanted years ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten stared down at the letter in his hands. He’d read it ten times over and still couldn’t quite understand what had happened.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>His grandfather was found dead and his Uncle and Izel were declared Firelord and Firelady that day. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Grandfather had shown him the will he’d modified only a few weeks ago naming Lu Ten the next Firelord if anything were to happen to Azulon. Something wasn’t right and Lu Ten needed to get to the bottom of it. And if by the speed things were changing around the Fire Nation, he needed to do it fast if he wanted to stay alive long enough to find out.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm sorry, Kya and Zuko lived so some people had to die eventually. It's all okay though this won't be the last we see of Iroh.</p><p>Well, I'm gonna go wait to have my heart ripped out and stitched back together with then next chapter of The Art of Burning by Hella, I'll see y'all soon with a new chapter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Taking the Fight to the Fire Nation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I gotta say this chapter was something else. The second half was no sweat, a little stuggles here and there, adding little bits and pieces from the original outline, BUT THE FIRST HALF. I was going around deleting scenes, rearranging scenes all sorts of things, but hey it's done I'm happy with it. ALSO, this is the last chapter before we are finally at the start of the series.</p><p>Anyways, here it, as always I hope you enjoy! ❤❤❤</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There hadn’t been any Fire Nation ships since the attack three years previous. They’d managed to rebuild most if not all the damage caused by the Southern Raiders, yet nothing ever replaced the lives they’d lost that day. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara had been working hard to perfect her movement of turning water into sheets of ice and spent any time she could, freezing the wall around the village so they’d have a greater chance of withstanding any hits from a Fire Navy ship. It wasn’t anywhere near the defenses of the North, but it was better than it used to be thanks to Sokka’s instruction of what parts needed extra fortifications and what parts didn’t. Together they built up a barrier to protect their people.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula pushed herself to become a firebending master so that the next time the Fire Nation arrived, she’d be able to help fight back this time. She was determined to keep her family safe ever since Zuko had gotten burned.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Speaking of Zuko, he’d gotten better at controlling his healing ability since first discovering it. Many were wary of his healing fire. They’d seen the horrors fire could cause when uncontrolled, but seeing their Chief willing to be healed by the kid after a not so lucky hunting trip changed some of their attitudes.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He’d tried to teach the healing fire to Azula, but she didn’t have the patience for it rather saying “I won’t need that if I can fight off anyone who tries to hurt me, plus you can always patch me up if I get hurt.” Despite her claim, Zuko still tried to teach her (it still wasn’t effective, but hey it was worth a shot).</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The village healed, the people recovered as time went on, but that did nothing to quell the fears of the Fire Navy returning with more force than they could fight off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They knew just why the Raiders had come back. Zuko had told them the captain Azula had killed, and had been looking for the last waterbender. Somehow they knew about Katara and they had been more than ready to kill her. They had no qualms about killing a child and in order to kill one, they burned another.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fear was constantly on the Southerner’s minds. When would they return? How many more would be hurt to get to the waterbender? How many more would have to die before the Fire Nation no longer saw them as a threat? How long until they never had any waterbenders again?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Action had to be taken. The Fire Nation needed to be stopped before they destroyed more of the world than they already had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was time for the Southern Water Tribe to join the war.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was somewhere around midday what a letter arrived from the Earth Kingdom. Sokka and Zuko had been sparring with each other (Hakoda was there as adult supervision). Both had been getting better and better, it gave Hakoda confidence that if an event ever arose where they were left to defend the village, that they’d be able to stand a chance against any Fire Nation attacks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An albatross-pigeon crashed down into the middle of the small arena. Sokka ran over and retrieved the letter from the bird. He handed the letter to Hakoda. The bright blue seal from one of the outer tribes stood out against the gray hues of the bird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hakoda sent the boys off to play, Sokka immediately dragging Zuko off to their ever growing snow fort (that had begun to rival the one Katara and Azula had made using their bending abilities), as he took the letter back to his home to read over. On his way back he grabbed Tuluk and Bato. He’d need their insight before making any decisions of calling a meeting with the whole village. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he’d finished reading over the letter, it was handed to the other men so they too would be aware of the situation. After they each finished, the letter was returned to Hakoda.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re really doing this?” Tuluk asked after a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What other choice do we have?” Bato said, “They won’t stop attacking until every bender we’ve ever had is dead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hakoda knew how terrified Bato was for his children. He had the same worries with Katara. How long until the Fire Nation realized they’d missed a waterbender? Or that they had three firebenders in their village? There was only so much they could do to fight off attacks until it just became too much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can’t just sit back and keep taking these hits. We have to do something now so our children have a chance of living in a world with peace.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They came to a conclusion that they’d speak to the tribe that night and propose this plan to them. The other tribes had already agreed to helping in their Navy effort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After their impromptu meeting, Tuluk ran off to check on his wife and their twins (who if they went through with this, he’d have to leave behind), leaving Bato and Hakoda alone for only a few moments before Ursa and Kya joined them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I take it, the tribes agreed?” Ursa asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They did. If all goes to plan, we’ll be leaving by the end of the month for the Earth Kingdom,” Hakoda answered, handing them the scroll so they too could read through the response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well there’s no way you two iceheads are taking on the Fire Nation alone,” Kya said with a grin, completely ignoring the men’s sounds of protest. “Need I remind you what happened last time you two decided to try to end a war alone.” She hadn’t needed to clarify that it had been a prank war, as they all remembered it quite well. Bato physically winced at the memory, that had not been a good day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “What of the children?” He asked, “We can’t just leave them alone for La knows how long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ursa laced her fingers through her husband’s. “If we want them to grow up in a world without war, it’s a sacrifice we’ll have to make.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thought of leaving their kids behind put a dampener on the whole room. The kids were still so young, Sokka and Zuko only 14, with Katara and Azula only being 2 years younger, there was so much they’d miss out on if, </span>
  <em>
    <span>when</span>
  </em>
  <span> they left.  Hakoda had to remind himself that if they didn’t do this they might not have a change to ever get those experiences. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tui and La, he hoped this was the right choice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The quiet chatter of the adults filled the meeting hall. They weren’t aware of why their Chief had called such a meeting, though there were a number that had suspicions, having seen the number of albatross-pigeons flying in and out of their village it wasn’t hard to guess. It would be no surprise if this was to speak of the war.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Hakoda stood at the front of the gathered crowd, his second and third on either side of him. The talking quieted as he raised a hand.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Thank you for coming,” he began, “I’m sure you all have concerns and tonight I’ll do my best to answer those.” No one spoke up, so he continued. “The Fire Nation is nearing victory, if they win our home will be whipped off the map. However, there is another option and that is why I gathered you here today.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“We’ve been in touch with our neighboring tribes. We plan to assemble a navy crew to delay the Fire Nation’s own navy in hopes of turning the tides in this fight. Tonight I ask any capable warrior to join us, to help us end this war, and to restore balance to the nations.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A new, hopeful, energy coursed through the room. A feeling of hope passed through those who hadn’t felt such for many years. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the end of the meeting, they had a solid number on just how many would be joining the force from their tribe. All the men above 16 volunteered and over a third of the women (which was a surprising number considering many hadn’t started learning how to properly fight until recently. The only ones staying in the tribe would be the rest of the women, elders, and children.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The tribe members retired for the night preparing themselves for when they had to leave. Cherishing what, for some, would be their last times ever seeing their home or in a good number of cases, their families. No one knew for sure who would return alive and who wouldn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Within the next few days, they’d send word to the other villages who’d  prepare their ships and meet them at a rendezvous point on the borders of the Southern waters. From there they’d get their first set of directions. They’d sail around the Earth Kingdom doing anything they could to keep the Fire Navy on their toes and hopefully do enough to delay what seemed to be an impending victory. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Then next immediate would be to tell the children. The odds of that going well were very slim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Hakoda returned to their home with a hand on Sokka’s shoulder, an hour before they needed to departe. The boy in question, wiping the remains of warrior’s paint off his face as he trudged through the snow. From what Kya could see his eyes were also red, a telling sign he’d been crying. She knew how bad he wanted to go with them. To be a real warrior and protect their people out on the battlefield.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>As soon as he was within her range, Kya hugged her son, ignoring as he tried to push her away. She smoothed out the stray hairs that’d slipped from his wolf tail, </span>
  <em>
    <span>if he’d just let it grow out a little bit longer</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but no he was always cutting it first himself before Kanna would make him sit down and let her tidy it up.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>After another moment, Sokka relaxed into her embrace, clutching to her parka. Her little warrior was so young. He shouldn’t have to live without his parents just yet, sure he wouldn’t be alone. He’d have Katara, Azula, and Zuko as well as Kanna, but Kya wanted to be here for him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Eventually he pulled back again and Kya let him go. He shuffled closer to Hakoda’s side rubbing at his eyes for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Sokka, can you run in and find your sister real quick. I have something I want to give each of you,” she said. Sokka slipped inside the house for a moment to get Katara. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“He tried to sneak aboard didn’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Hakoda chuckled, “It was a valiant effort, and I dare say had Chenak not seen him he could have snuck on board. and hid out until we were too far from home to turn around.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sokka returned with Katara in tow. Both had looks of sadness on their faces. This was gonna be a hard day, but it had to happen and Kya wanted to be able to say goodbye to them today in case she never got to see them again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She picked up two packages she’d wrapped and handed one to each of her children. They stared at them for a moment, before looking back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Go ahead and open ‘em.” Hakoda encouraged, knowing full on well what was in each package.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sokka got through the wrapping first, revealing a freshly carved and painted boomerang. “It’s proper for every young warrior to have a weapon of his own to carry,” Kya explained, “It was carved from the bones of a mongoose-tiger-dolphin and blessed by our elders that you may use it to protect those you love.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara unwrapped hers next holding up Kya’s engagement necklace. “Katara, that was given to me by your father from his mother. I want to pass it down to you so you always have something to remember us by no matter where we are in the world.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara tried to protest, “But it’s yours! Don’t you want it so you can always remember Dad?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Kya laughed lightly, kneeling in the snow to take the necklace from her daughter’s hands and latching it in place on Katara’s neck. “I have something else to remember him by,” she said, pulling forward a small braid with a dark blue bead on it. Next to that braid was another with two smaller, lighter blue beads weaved into it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara jumped forward to hug her mother, closely followed by Sokka (who’d thankfully left the boomerang out of the hug). Hakoda knelt down behind them encircling them all in his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>This was the last time they’d be together for a while, so they’d cherish every moment of it they possibly could. The knelt together in the snow until it was almost time for them to leave. With one more tight hug, they had to say goodbye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They’d spent a good while trying to find where Azula had slipped away to. She’d left Shila outside (which was probably a good thing since the ‘pup’ had gotten to the point where she was almost too big for the house). Azula didn’t like being anywhere without her beloved dog.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Bato headed off to the ships knowing it was likely she could have snuck aboard. Off to the side he could see Hakoda talking to a warrior painted Sokka. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bato checked through the deck, infirmary, crew quarters, galley, Chief’s office, even the bathing quarters and no sign of his daughter. The last place she could be was in the cargo hold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Making his way down there, he saw a small light from the back of all the crates. The hold had been packed tightly, so there was no way of him getting back there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Azula,” he called out softly. The light flickered out. “Azula, dear, I know you’re in there. Can you please come out of there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nimbly, Azula crawled over the tops of the crates out of her hiding spot. Before he even had a chance to say anything, she’d buried herself in the front of his parka, hugging him around his center. He held her for a few minutes, twirling the ends of her ponytail until she finally spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want you to go,” she muttered into his coat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He managed to pry her off so he could crouch down closer to her height. “I know Azula. I don’t want to leave you either,” he fixed her bangs that had gotten all frizzy, “but sometimes we can’t always get what we want. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do to protect the people we love.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded in understanding, the sadness not leaving her face and he knew it wouldn’t, not until they were all home together again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You and Mom will come home, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was the thing about wars. He didn’t know if they’d both survive and he knew it would hurt Azula more if he did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know Azula, I truly don’t, but I’ll do everything I can to make sure we do come home, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Promise?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hugged him again before he managed to convince her to come say goodbye to Ursa before they had to leave. Ursa was back at their home with Zuko, braiding a couple beads into his hair (which by this point had to be quite a bit longer than Azula’s, he never liked to cut it) with practiced ease. She pulled the finished braids and top half of his hair into a wolf tail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she finished Zuko ran over and hugged him. He’d been planning on taking Zuko on some practice runs for ice dodging this year, but now it was looking like that would have to wait. So many big life milestones would have to wait and be put on the back burner until after they stopped the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled both his kids and Ursa into the hug. So much could happen in just this time they’d be gone. They didn’t know what would happen while they were gone or if they would come back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All they had was now, with these last few moments together before everything changed forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The war ships pulled further and further away from the village, until they were nothing more than specks on the horizon. The truth of the situation finally became a reality.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara clung to Sokka’s side, trying oh so hard to hold in her tears as she ran her fingers over the necklace her mother had gifted her. Zuko stood on Sokka’s other side, his features set to a careful blankness (something no child should be able to do so easily) as he pulled his sister closer. Azula was trying to stand tall, but her shoulders shook as silent tears dripped down her cheeks. Sokka held a lantern, an aura of protection coating him as they watched the ships sail away.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The burden placed upon these kids was something Kanna couldn’t even begin to imagine. Nearly every capable warrior over the age of 16 had left on the ships, leaving her grandkids as the oldest kids in the tribe. Sure there were all the elders and many of the women (who had young children that needed them and they lacked as much training as the others to fight) had stayed behind, but so many responsibilities would fall on those four kids.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Kanna had no doubt they’d do everything they could to protect their tribe, but that still brought the concern that these were children. They shouldn’t have to do this. They should have their parents here to help them through the trials of their teenage years, but the Fire Nation separates families, that’s nothing new. It was just that Kanna had hoped that would never happen to her family again.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She’d been so fortunate to have journeyed from the North Pole to the South safely in her youth. She’d found someone she truly loved and had her beloved son with him. She’d seen her husband dragged away in chains by the Fire Nation. She remembered the nights where she’d hold her son, who’d been only 9 at the time, through nightmares of that very attack. That alone fueled her hatred towards the Fire Nation and anyone from there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was until those two girls showed up at their village. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Kanna had been serving as Chief until Hakoda reached the age where he would take over. The girls had arrived on an unusually built ship. While it resembled that of a Water Tribe ship there were a good number of features that were quite obviously Earth Kingdom styles, bits of ancient Air Nomad ships, and even so small bits like the old Fire Nation ship left out on the tundra.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The first of the two Kanna had met had been Kya, a fierce woman who’d survived the decimation of one of the outer tribes that hadn’t been fortunate enough to survive the raids. The girl was a waterbender healer who had claimed to have traveled the world with her sister.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When she’d mentioned a sister, Kanna certainly hadn’t been expecting a very obviously Fire Nation girl. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This is a trap,</span>
  </em>
  <span> was the first thought to cross her mind, but upon further speaking to the young lady, she understood more than she ever had about the Fire Nation before. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The Fire Nation girl- Ursa -had run away from her home in the Fire Nation when she was 8. Her parents and other close families had supported the war-efforts being put in place by Firelord Azulon, believing that maybe Avatar Roku had been wrong in trying to stop it before it began. She’d tried to tell them that Roku was right and that he wouldn’t approve of such beliefs that destroyed the balance of the world, but they refused to listen, so she left.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The two girls, by some luck of fate, had met on Kyoshi island. They stayed there for a year before leaving there and deciding to travel the world. They’d been nearly everywhere, the Air Temples, Omashu, Ba Sing Se, the Si Wong Desert, the Northern Watertribe, the abandoned Sun Warrior Ruins, the Foggy Swamp, Tui and La, they’d even managed to slip through numerous towns within the Fire Nation homeland without any trouble.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was truly an impressive feat. When Kanna asked </span>
  <em>
    <span>why </span>
  </em>
  <span>they’d come to such a small place after having seen everything, they’d explained that that was just it, they’d seen so much of the world that it'd be nice to settle down in some place much calmer than the chaos of the rest of the world.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That had been enough for Kanna to give them a small bit of trust, but if they did anything to hurt the tribe she wouldn’t be responsible for her actions. These were her people, she had to protect them.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She put the girls to work immediately, telling them that everyone earned their place there. What she hadn’t know was that her boys- who while they could be so brilliant, yet so idiotic at the same time -had followed the new girls in, Hakoda’s word “figuring out if they were Fire Nation spies,” despite the fact that she’d already determined they wouldn’t pull anything shifty if they knew what was good for them.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When the four teenagers arrived back at the village, Kanna should have known just how close they would all become over the next years.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She saw the sparks between Hakoda and Kya so quickly. They were a perfect match. Kya constantly challenged her Hakoda and made just as terrible of jokes as him. It wasn’t a surprise at all when Hakoda admitted to wanting to marry her. She’d watched for days as Hakoda attempted to carve a perfect necklace, but was never satisfied with how it turned out. Eventually she took pity on her boy and pulled out the old necklace she’d kept from Pakku and offered it to him. The next day Kya had been wearing the necklace around her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The relationship that grew between Bato and Ursa, however, had been a surprise. For the longest time it had been that they were friends and nothing more, then all at once Kanna started to notice the little looks one would give the other when not looking. Bato may not have been her son, but she knew him well enough to know that he was falling hard for the Fire Nation girl. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Seeing the way those two were together, Kanna started to have hope once again that there could be a time when the world had peace between all the nations again. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Then the Fire Nation took Ursa away.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>There was nothing any of them could do. They couldn’t exactly fight back against the Fire Nation, they’d made it clear their village would be destroyed if they tried. Just like that Ursa left to protect them.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She’d seen the heartbreak in Bato when the woman he loved was taken. The anger in Kya as she was separated from her sister. The disappointment Hakoda felt in himself as a new Chief when he couldn’t even protect those closest to him. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Then one day she came home with, now two, beloved children and a nightmare of what had happened in that cursed land. Kanna had hoped that would be the end, that her family would finally have some time away from the terrors of the war. Then those blasted raiders showed up and hurt one of her grandbabies.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Now only a few years later, the Fire Nation was tearing apart her family again. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She watched these children, the oldest being just over 14, prepare to step up to fill positions meant for adults. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  
  <span>Kanna knew her grandkids were destined for greatness, she just didn’t think they’d be shouldering it so soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It’d been a long day. One war meeting after another. Countless proposals being thrown out for their utter lack of planning. How any of these people had managed to earn the rank of general was beyond her. When General Bujing had run a proposal of sending the 41st division in as bait it had been shot down immediately by both Ozai and Izel. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Now hours after the meeting, Izel finally had a moment to think about the general’s proposal in greater depth. Had the division he’d suggested been better trained and prepared for such a fight, she would have agreed, alas they were not. The division mainly consisted of teenagers, most only a couple years younger than Lu Ten, they wouldn’t stand a chance at the walls of Ba Sing Se. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their sacrifice would be wasteful, especially since they’d barely even make a dent in the defense around the impenetrable city. Even if they sent in another, more experienced, division right after, they’d just end up with two less divisions and maybe 20 meters closer to Ba Sing Se. They’d hardly gain anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>However there would be one benefit of </span>
  <em>
    <span>disposing</span>
  </em>
  <span> of the 41st. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since the death of Iroh, Lu Ten hadn’t spent more than a couple weeks at the palace, instead rather flipping from different divisions of new recruits and as of recently had begun training the young soldiers of the 41st division.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The worst thing about the boy being gone was they no longer had an easy way to off the prince without drawing too much suspicion. If he were at the palace, Izel had a contact that could get her a special poison to slowly kill him, as though  he’d fallen ill. However, him being the leader of a division of recruits meant to die anyways, it’d be the perfect cover story.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Izel liked where this was going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you planning my dear?” Ozai said from across their office. He’d just gotten back from training Kiyi, who was beginning to become a formidable opponent to any other kids her age despite not having yet produced a flame, but Ozai was confident she would any day now. Her spark burned so brightly that there was no way she wasn’t gifted by Agni.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smirked, “I believe I’ve found a way to rid us of that pesky child.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That got his attention quickly, “Do tell.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she explained to him her whole plan. Send the 41st to conquer a city (not Ba Sing Se, one member of the royal family had already died there despite Ozai and Izel having no part in that death). When the division reached the city they’d be told to expect a second division, however that ‘division’ would be made up of earthbenders loyal to the Firelady for the right sum of gold. They’d make it seem like an ambush and bury any evidence of their ever even being a fight there to begin with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The prince would be gone, along with any of the suspicions he’d formed over the time Izel had been in the family. It’d easily just be written off as a casualty of war.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do believe you’ve found a perfect way to dispose of that rat. You’ll be leading the division, yes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Izel nodded, “He’ll be dead by the end of the month.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what of the waterbender in the South?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Izel chuckled, “Patience husband, all ends will be tied up soon enough. Though I don’t quite understand your worry, the waterbender has no teacher, I doubt they’ll become much of a problem in the future.” She stood from her desk, tidying up a couple things as she went.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to train those girls?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, they should be ready for the field in the next couple of years at the latest. Then, you’ll never have to worry about assassins again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hummed, turning back to his paperwork, no doubt beginning to set up a point where Izel’s team would meet up and end the prince’s life, as she left the room to go through her lessons with the noblemen’s daughters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>These next weeks were going to be so much fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“My Prince,” one of the newest recruits approached him with a messenger hawk perched on her arm, “A letter from Firelord Ozai arrived.” She placed the scroll on his desk before bowing and leaving the tent.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten sighed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Great, what did his Uncle want now?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The letter was simple, he was to take his division and continue along the coastline where they’d meet up with another division of more experienced soldiers to conquer Gaoling. Simple enough.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten sent out word to his soldiers to start tearing down the camp, they’d begin moving immediately. Gaoling was a five day march from where they were stationed now. Lu Ten didn’t want to be late, nor did he want to be early in case the city was more protected than they originally expected.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They ran into little incidents on their trek. They set up a new camp just out of sight of the town they were meant to conquer. Lu Ten sent scouts into Gaoling to gather information. From what his sources said, there was little defense in the town and while it was likely there was a good number of Earthbenders, they wouldn’t be able to take two divisions of Fire Nation trained soldiers.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The second division wasn’t supposed to meet them for another day, so for now they just had further training time to prepare these new soldiers. They were all so young, the oldest of them barely 20 and some of the youngest being 15. All these soldiers come from all sorts of backgrounds, fighting together for one cause, to lead the Fire Nation to victory (</span>
  <em>
    <span>if it was even right</span>
  </em>
  <span>, that voice in the back of Lu Ten’s head whispered.)</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The afternoon drew on, then the night, until finally the early streams of morning light finally broke. Many of the firebender soldiers sat outside, facing the sun for their morning meditation. Only once Agni had begun his climb higher in the sky did they finally receive a sign of the second division’s approach.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The second division approached quickly, Lu Ten made his way to greet them when the first boulders flew.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>This was an ambush</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He turned to shout orders to his second, only to see him buried in the earth in seconds. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Earthbenders, they needed to get off the ground.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He yelled out orders to his soldiers, watching as more and more were buried in the earth. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>There weren’t many options, they could either stay and fight (something they were already losing) or retreat (which Lu Ten was sure would also end in their demise). There really wasn’t a good outcome to this situation. Lu Ten sent a prayer to Agni that his soldiers would be able to walk off this battlefield today, even if it cost him his life.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten drew his sword and charged towards the Earthbenders dressed in Fire Nation red. He had to move fast enough to stay away from the Earthbender’s attacks. All those years of training under Master Piandao couldn’t have prepared Lu Ten for this fight. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He managed to take down a few soldiers- seeing his own division beginning to do the same -when he finally caught sight of the person behind this attack. A figure dressed head-to-toe in black, only their eyes revealed, stood at the center of the Earthbender squadron. If he could take down their leader, they may retreat, it was a risk Lu Ten was willing to take.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He dodged around Earthbenders, narrowly avoiding being buried as a great number of his soldiers had been. A few fell victim to the end of his blade as he raced towards the leader. When he swung his sword at them, they jumped back, dodging every attack he sent their way.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>All at once the ground around him started to sink, he’d stayed on the ground too long, the Earthbenders had his feet trapped. The ground around him was pulling him deeper and deeper. The leader of the Earthbenders kicked his sword away. Around them more and more of his soldiers were buried in the ground. The figure in black crouched down in front of him, the earth now reaching his shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Their cold gaze pierced into him. There was something so familiar about them, almost like he’d seen this person before, but he just couldn’t place it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That was until the person’s eyes curled into a cruel smirk, then everything clicked.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Izel.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten didn’t have any more time to think as the earth continued to crawl up towards his face, he took what could be his last breath, staring into those cold eyes before everything went black.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Is it done?” The man hidden in the shadows asked a figure cloaked in black by both their clothing and the darkness of night.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I saw him buried myself. Prince Lu Ten of the Fire Nation is dead. No one will stand in our way,” the figure replied.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Then our next step is to take control of the rest of the Nations, </span>
  <em>
    <span>My Queen</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Toph had spent another day with the badgermoles and she needed to head back to another day dealing with her parents. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oma and Shu,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she hated spending so much time in that stuffy house where everyone thought she was just a blind, tiny, helpless girl. Honestly it was just so tiring, she’d debated just leaving one day and not returning, but she just never had a plan on where she’d go after or what she’d do.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>One day,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she promised herself, </span>
  <em>
    <span>one day I’ll leave here and make a name for myself in the world.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
  <span>As she made her way home, she felt what to be a fight just a ways away. Without even thinking, Toph changed directions, manipulating the earth around her feet to make it there even quicker. The battle was getting closer, but quieter. Whatever was happening was nearing its end.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the time Toph finally got there, she couldn’t feel anything above the ground. It was like whoever had been here just disappeared. Like whoever had started this fight, didn’t want any evidence of what they’d done.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Toph stopped and stood listening for any sort of movement or sign of what had happened. There was nothing, the ground was even, undisturbed. She couldn’t feel any bodies above ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took a breath, extending her seismic sense out further. She’d gotten a lot better since learning from the badgermoles. She could ‘see’ now even if her parents didn’t believe her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Under the earth there were a number of weird shapes, they were fuzzy, but from what Toph could feel, they didn’t have any heartbeats, but they had at one point. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That’s where the fight went.</span>
  </em>
  <span> The winner buried everyone from the other side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If she’d gotten here earlier, she could have help, more people would have survived or she could have saved all these people. So many lives had been lost and for what? Some squabble between an earthbender army and probably a Fire Nation squadron if Toph’s lessons had taught her anything. Toph just wished she’d been able to-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a faint heartbeat below her feet. It wasn’t much, but it was there. She’d wanted a way to help these people and it seemed she’d found one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stepping back, Toph rooted her stance and moved the earth around the person under her. In seconds she had them above ground. She put her hand on the person’s chest, checking for their breath. It was shallow, but as far as she could tell, they would live.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The person groaned and started coughing. Toph ran to hide in the trees, listening as the person finally caught their breath and felt as they started running (hobbling would be the proper term with the way she felt him stumbling around) looking for different people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph waited for a while, until the person finally stopped, collapsing to the ground and yelled, shouting curses Toph had never heard (and she hadn’t heard a lot, but occasionally her tutors would slip up and let a few slip) but filed away in the back of her mind for a later scenario. She listened for a bit to the Earth just in case another one of the soldiers was alive, but she found nothing. Toph slipped away back to her home as the man she’d just saved continued to break down behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was glad someone was alive, but she didn’t think the echoes of his screams would be leaving her mind any time soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph skirted around Gaoling, needing to clear her head before getting home. She heard two boys talking around a corner from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to the Earth Rumble?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Earth Rumble?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I can’t wait to see the champion take on the Boulder, maybe someone will finally beat her.” The boys left, continuing their conversation as they made their way on with their day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever this Earth Rumble place was, Toph wanted to find out. She followed the boys to what felt to be an underground arena. She heard cheering, clapping, and the sound of a fight (this one very different from the one she’d heard before). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned, this was definitely Toph’s sorta place, she’d like it here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>All at once the pain in his chest reduced, he could breathe again. The sun was shining on his face, he squinted up to the sky and tried to take a breath which came out in a coughing fit. He thought he’d heard footsteps running away, but didn’t take a second more to even think about that. His ribs hurt (probably from being crushed for a bit). Once he could finally breathe, he tried to look around him.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>What had happened, where was his division? Murok? Chezan? Shengo? Seeri? Raza? Miseem? Anyone? He called out for them, trying desperately to run and find his people, but he couldn’t find them anywhere. Where were his soldiers? His friends? They couldn’t be gone. He collapsed to the ground, landing hard on his already injured leg.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It all came crashing back, the ambush, the earthbenders, the figure in black, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Izel</span>
  </em>
  <span>. What had she even been doing there? She was supposed to be back at the palace with his Uncle and baby cousin (who wasn’t so much of a baby anymore but he hadn’t seen her in so long he still thought of her as the tiny toddler he’d met a few years ago.)</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Once Lu Ten’s mind finally calmed down, he came to a decision. Something was clearly going on back home and until he knew it wouldn’t be safe to go back. He’d have to lay low in the Earth Kingdom for a while. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He didn’t know what to do with this sudden revelation. Apparently his Aunt wanted him dead and had a team of earthbenders to do her bidding. It made him wonder if his Uncle even knew (which was ridiculous, he had to know what kind of woman he’d married, which just made her that much more frightening. She was Firelady, which gave her more power than nearly everyone in the nation. She could get away with whatever she wanted.)</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He had to be wrong. Maybe it was just his head playing tricks on him, he was about to die so his head supplied someone from home. That had to be it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Pain surged through Lu Ten’s bad leg, reminding him he sat in the middle of an Earth Kingdom territory, alone. He allowed himself another minute to rest before pushing himself to his feet and hobbled over to the trees nearby. He found a large branch that’d work as a cane for some time while he made his way through the county area.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He couldn’t go to Gaoling. He’d stand out too much as Fire Nation. He needed to get to the colonies if he wanted to survive. Once he got there he’d figure out what to do next not wanting to make any rash decisions now.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>With a quick glance up towards the sun, he found his way west and set off to the nearest colony. Until then he had a lot to think about.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know, Lu Ten's a danger magnet, the biy keeps almost dying, but I promise it gets better(ish) soon. Aang finally shows up in the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading, I love you all! ❤❤❤</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Return of the Avatar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aang's finally here! :) This chapter was both fun and a pain to write. A good amount of our main characters have finally met and Team Avatar's going off to save the world, y'know as kids do.</p><p>Also I want to give y'all a character age range: Zuko and Sokka are 16 (they'll both be 17 by the time the North Pole stuff is over), Katara and Azula are 14, Aang's 12 hereToph is currently 11, and Lu Ten is 27. The rest of the characters are their canon ages unless stated otherwise later.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Days passed, turning into weeks, and the weeks to months. The seasons came and went as did the years, each one passing being more defining as the children grew. They grew into fine, young leaders, taking charge of so many things in the village, whether that be hunting, gathering, fishing, building, and if the situation ever arose, they may even have to step up and defend the village. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Despite trying to act so much like adults, Gran Gran always tried to make sure they remembered they were still children and didn’t need to do everything on their own. Some days She’d send them out for the day to just have fun for a while before they were allowed to do any sort of work for the day. Kanna always counted it as a victory when she’d walk in on them laughing and just so happy.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That first year was mostly uneventful, everyone did their part and helped the village survive through the changing seasons. They had a rough patch when the storms just wouldn’t let up, making it practically impossible for anyone to go out and find more meat for the rest of the winter. Luckily, they were able to find enough to get by during the breaks between the storms. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>During the time since the warriors had left, no one dared sail out of their waters to trade with the people of Kyoshi. They still met with members of their neighboring tribes once or twice a year, but other than those few times, they rarely traveled outside their own lands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It did nothing to hide the worry everyone felt for the people who were now assisting in the war against the Fire Nation. Letters never came for fear of the birds being tracked, so they had no way of knowing which of their loved ones were still alive, all they could do was hope and pray. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another thing that changed after that first year was that for the first time there were no more newborn babies being delivered. For the first while there had been a child or two being born each month, but after that, there were none. It was odd, they were so used to the normality of welcoming a new member of their tribe, that when it stopped they always felt like something was missing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was just another reality of this war. Families were separated and there would continue to be fewer and fewer newborn children until those numbers dwindled off to zero. And it would stay like that until their warriors returned home. It was a change, but that was the thing about the Water Tribe, just like their element, they were able to adapt to change no matter the situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of the children who were a bit older, Sokka began training them on some training weapons Azula has carefully made so as to not have the children accidentally hurt one another while learning. Katara was best at keeping the children on task, so she’d generally sit in on those ‘lessons’ just to be sure Sokka didn’t lose his patience with the kids (and oftentimes Zuko wasn’t that far away for when one kid would accidentally get hurt).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the most part, those four worked so hard to keep a constant sense of normality.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still Kanna tried to make those days special.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But what surprised her even more was when they worked so hard to make those days special for each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>On Azula’s 14th birthday when she finally convinced Katara to help her with her hair (though in all honesty it wasn’t that hard, Katara had been wanting to do Azula’s hair for years). The whole thing started out okay, Katara sectioned off the top part of Azula’s hair, pulling up and out of the way, leaving her bangs in front of her face. From there everything went downhill.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Azula wanted the hair from the back and sides of her head shaved off, like how Sokka always wore his hair. The thing was, Katara had never cut that much hair off in one go. With Sokka’s hair, all she ever helped him with was the back and even then it was like an inch or two at the most of growth; Azula had at the very least a foot of hair to cut off, needless to say it wasn't going well.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Lucky for them, Gran Gran found them before Azula’s hair was ruined. She took over, cutting off longer parts of Azula’s hair until it was at a length where Katara could easily shave the rest of it off.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Gran Gran pulled out a yellow dyed strip of leather and let Katara tie up the top section of Azula’s hair into, what Gran Gran had called, a phoenix tail (which in Katara’s opinion was just a longer, higher wolf-tail, but whatever, Azula liked calling it a phoenix tail more.)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Little had Azula known that Katara helping with her hair had been a distraction from the boys’ surprise.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Katara covered Azula’s eyes and led her outside to where Shila was kept now that there was physically no way for her to fit inside the house without Katara melting and refreezing the wall. Once there, Katara uncovered Azula’s eyes to reveal Shila equipt with a new, handmade saddle. The saddle was mostly brown with some parts of purple dyed hide; newly carved wood framed the back of the saddle and along the edges appeared to be some sort of sea creature embroidered into the hide.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Sokka immediately launched into a rousing tale of the hunt him and Zuko had gone on two months previous to find the perfect hide for the saddle, then how Katara had banned them from trying to dye the hide after their trial attempt, then just how much time Zuko had spent embroidering the sea dragon design along the edge. Both Katara and Zuko rolled their eyes at his dramatics, but the whole time they were watching Azula’s reaction.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’d been talking about making a saddle for quite a while, now that Shila was big enough to actually ride without hurting (though Sokka had made a comment that it’s not like Azula could hurt her, she wasn’t that tall to which he got a shot blast of fire shot at him leading to one of Sokka’s and Azula’s more intense spars).</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Once Sokka finally stopped talking, Azula jumped, pulling the other three into a hug. Katara sent her off to test out the new saddle as long as she was back before lunch, so that they’d still have time to finish all their chores.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That had been one of the more happy memories since their parents had left to fight in the war and once again life felt calm. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough for that time.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>Spring drew to a close leading to what was seeming to be a plentiful year. They’d just gotten through their second year without the majority of their tribe. Keeping everyone fed year round was definitely much easier than it had been some years in the past, but that didn’t mean that there hadn’t been bad months during those years. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was during the beginning of the third year when things got bad again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Zuko had been working on renewing the medicine stocks- he’d been taking over more and more responsibilities as the village’s healer as Pana grew older -since quite a lot had been used through the winter whenever anyone got sick. Pana still assisted wherever Zuko allowed.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>That day was when Pana got a sickness that Zuko wasn’t able to heal.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>It started out as a simple cough here and there, he brushed it off as nothing telling Zuko to get back to helping whoever was his patient at the time. From there it only got worse.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>By the time it reached the two week point, Pana barely had the energy to get out of bed. Zuko tried to be there all hours of the day, but Pana would always make sure to send him home to get some sleep (or at least making sure one of his friends would drag him home at night). </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Pana knew his time was coming to an end, that was just a fact of life. People grew old and one day died. And each day was growing closer and closer to that. This wasn’t something that could be cured, he knew and accepted that. He’d lived a good life. He had a family he’d never thought possible after losing his dear wife, but here he was with four kids he cared for so much, kids he thought of as his own grandchildren (he’d kept their parents alive for so long, he could claim that title if he wished; Kanna would be fine with it as well). He was happy.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>That didn’t stop him from pulling Zuko aside one day to talk to him of what was bound to happen soon.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>“Zuko,” Pana said, drawing the boy’s attention away from the books and scrolls he had spread out around him on the floor, “Come here please, I need to talk to you.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Zuko moved carefully across the room towards Pana’s bedroll. He was nervous, antsy more so, determined to find a cure.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>“Zuko, you don’t need to keep doing this. You know that right?” The young healer shrugged, “I’m old, that’s no secret. And when people get old they eventually pass on to the next life. Zuko,” he paused for a moment, “I’m dying-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>“You can’t!” Zuko shouted, “I’m gonna find a cure. I will! You won’t die.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Pana coughed into a piece of cloth, resting the other hand on Zuko’s shaking shoulder. “Not even you- one of the greatest healers I’ve ever gotten the pleasure of working with -could prevent death.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Zuko launched forward, hugging him as tightly as he could without cutting off Pana’s airflow. “I don’t want to lose you,” he muttered into the old healer’s shoulder. “Mom and Dad are already gone and I don’t know if they’re okay, and I- I just can’t lose you too.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>“You’ll never lose me Zuko, it’ll take something much stronger than death to keep me from checking up on my favorite apprentice.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>A wet laugh came from Zuko. He could feel a slight wet patch from where Zuko’s face was pressed into his shoulder. He didn’t release his hug quite yet, he muttered a quiet, “I’ll miss you” and that was that. Eventually Zuko went back to work, he put all the books and scrolls where they were meant to go. For the first time in well over two weeks, Zuko left Pana’s without much prodding that night.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>The next day Pana was gone.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Kanna had gone to check on Pana that morning only to find him dead in his bedroll, he’d most likely passed in his sleep. When Zuko entered around midday, Kanna already had his body wrapped and prepared for the funeral they’d have to hold that night. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>He ran out and collapsed in the snow, holding his head between his hands. Heart wrenching sobs came from the boy; the large hearth in the center of the village flared with each breath. When he screamed the fire surged straight into the air. Those who hadn’t known what had happened to the old healer learned quickly as the usually calm and collected firebender completely lost control.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Azula and Sokka took to work tossing snow on to the fire that was getting larger with each cry from the eldest boy. Katara held him and let him cry in her arms. When the fire was successfully out Azula and Sokka helped to get Zuko home.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Kanna gave them some time before going to the kids with a small package for Zuko. She found the kids in Zuko and Azula’s home- the central fire was put out for safety but Kanna had no doubt that Azula was keeping them all warm. Zuko sat silent, pressed in Sokka’s side. His eyes were red and empty, cheeks flushed and wet with tears.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>She laid the package in his lap. He looked at her confused, the first teling enmotion she’d seen in his eyes for some time.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>“He wanted you to have this,” she said as an explanation.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>He carefully opened the package, out fell two letters, one of which had a small, wooden tile attached to it. Zuko read over the letters and fidgeted with the tile for a bit, not saying anything.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko didn’t speak much after that. He’d speak to his family yes, and to his patients or the children, but even then it was strained conversations or as few words as possible to get his point across.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Life wasn’t perfect, no, it definitely wasn’t perfect, but it was enough. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Then everything changed when the Avatar had returned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was just another day. Azula had gone off hunting at day break, Zuko was teaching some lessons to the younger children with Gran Gran, and Sokka and Katara had gone out fishing. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was a surprisingly nice day out. A light winter storm had passed a few days before, leaving a fresh layer of snow everywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sokka leaned over the edge of the canoe looking for any fish to catch on his spear. He was muttering some plans or new inventions to himself aloud to himself rather than to Katara.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara lounged at the back of the canoe taking in the calm of the early morning and the feeling of being surrounded by ice and water on practically all sides. She heard Sokka’s excitement at spotting one; lifting his spear he prepared to catch the fish. She glanced down to see another fish swimming by her side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She removed the mitten off of one hand; flicking her fingers, she bent the water around the fish, lifting it up above the canoe. As she was about to lower it into the bucket, Sokka pushed his spear back, popping the bubble of water around the fish. Water rained down all over Sokka as the fish slapped across the deck of the canoe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka screeched at the cold water, then grumbled, “Why is it whenever, you play with water, I’m the one getting wet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara gasped, quickly pulling the water off of Sokka and tossing it back into the ocean. “It’s not my fault you’re spear popped the bubble, and at least I caught a fish,” she said, picking up the fish- that had stopped flopping around -and putting it in a bucket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Sokka could reply, the canoe lurched to the side, catching the siblings in a swift current. Sokka grabbed an oar, trying hard to steer them out of the way while Katara pushed oncoming broken off bits from the surrounding ice floes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were doing pretty good, but there were too many chunks of ice for Katara to keep putting away. The canoe slammed into a larger chunk of ice and sent the kids sprawled across the snow. Katara shoved Sokka off of her, and stood watching as the tip of the canoe sunk under the surface of the ocean. She sighed, looks like they’d have to find another way back home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka stood behind her, picking up his spear. “C’mon, we need to get going. There’s still daylight, and we need to get something done today, since y’know we lost the boat and fish.” There was something in his tone that sounded a bit accusing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you blaming me for losing the boat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look all I’m saying is if you hadn’t been doing you’re freaky magic, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First off, it’s called waterbending and it’s not magic, it’s an important-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, I know ‘an important part of our culture that you need to preserve’ I heard it all before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you know why it’s so important, and I wouldn’t have dropped the fish if you had been watching where you were pointing your spear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe if you had better control, you wouldn’t have dropped it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara was fuming, “Control? I have control! You’re the one who steered our boat into an ice floe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t like my steering, you could’ve waterbended us out of the way. Y’know maybe you could just waterbend us a way home.” Sokka snarked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Katara threw her hands up in exasperation, “I can’t believe you! Waterbending isn’t magic, I can’t just do whatever I want, if I could I would have buried you in a snow cave years ago. Tui and La, how am I even related to you! You’re always running off to play soldier, while I’m stuck at home with all your chores. It’d be nice if you just did your job once and a while, is that too much to ask!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stopped her foot creating a crack up the huge iceberg behind them that splintered and came crashing back into the ocean. The force from the ice sent the ice floe Katara and Sokka were stranded on, further out into the middle of the ocean. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, you’re waterbending has gone from weird to freakish, Katara.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Below them the water began to glow and another iceberg floated up to the surface. It turned over to reveal a figure with glowing arrows on their head and hands. Katara stood watching the figure in the ice. She felt drawn to it for some reason… odd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to help them,” Katara said, running towards the orb, not even bothering to wait for her brother. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard Sokka behind her, yelling at her to wait for him. She took hold of the ice, turning it back into liquid form. A blast of warm air knocked Katara down, and a bright beam of light shot up into the sky. Sokka pulled her into his side, doing what he could to hide her from… whatever this was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The figure with the glowing arrows fell from where they’d been hovering in the air. Their eyes and arrows stopped glowing as they slid down a slope of snow. Katara broke away from Sokka’s side, still ignoring his warnings. She lifted the kid’s head onto her knees. Their eyes opened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come closer,” their voice was raspy when they first spoke, “Will you go penguin sledding with me?” Their voice became more chipper than it had been a moment before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara was confused, but agreed because what else was one supposed to do when you found a strange kid in an iceberg. Sokka cautiously approached and poked the kid in the head with the end of his spear until Katara swatted him away. The kid practically floated into a standing position.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They grabbed their head, “What’s going on here? Where am I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka jumped back, spear pointed at the kid. “You tell us; How’d you get in the ice, and why aren’t you frozen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They rubbed the back of their head, looking at the surrounding area. “I’m not sure,” a loud bellow sounded from somewhere in the ice, the kid jumped in the air. “Appa!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They ran off behind the iceberg and came out with some huge, furry creature with an arrow on its head, similar to that of the kid from in the ice. Sokka, once again, jumped back (now somewhat hiding behind Katara) his spear still pointed towards the kid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is that thing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is Appa, he’s my flying bison,” the kid smiled brightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka, completely deadpanned, replied, “Right and this is Katara, my flying sister.” Katara swatted him on the arm for that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The big furry creature sneezed, sending a massive snotball right for Sokka (who’d completely ducked behind Katara at this point). Katara threw up a sheet of ice to stop the snot from covering her and Sokka.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid laughed, “Sorry about that. Hey, do you guys live around here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t answer that,” Sokka said cutting in before Katara could answer. He turned back to the kid from the ice, “You’re probably some sort of spy sent by the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, I’m sure he’s a spy sent by the Fire Nation. You can tell by that evil glint in his eyes.” As if on cue they made an expression that was so purely innocent there was no way the kid had ever committed any sort of crime . Katara gave Sokka her famous ‘I-told-you-so’ look. “Ignore my brother Sokka. He’s overly paranoid about everything. What’s your name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m A-ah-AH” he sneezed, flying nearly twenty feet in the air. He landed back on the ground. “I’m Aang.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara and Sokka stood there, bewildered for a moment, before Katara replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re an airbender,” her voice was full of wonder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure am,” Aang replied, extra chipper now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glowing icebergs, flying bison, airbenders; I think I got a case of the midnight sun madness, I’m going home where things actually make sense,” Sokka said, turning to the edge of the iceberg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, how’re you gonna get back? ” Katara asked. “In case you’ve forgotten we don’t have a boat anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang perked up, “Appa and I could give you a lift back home,” he used a blast of air to push himself onto Appa's head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara grinned, “That’d be great, thanks Aang.” She carefully climbed up into Appa’s saddle. Looking at it, it reminded her of the saddle Azula had on Shila.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka however was nowhere near as enthusiastic as his sister. “Oh no, there is no way I’m getting on that fluffy, snot monster.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have fun walking home then,” Katara shot back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka stared out at the surrounding ocean for a moment, probably thinking if there were anyways he could avoid having to get on Appa, even if it meant swimming back home. He grumbled something while climbing up into the saddle beside Katara.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, hold on. Appa yip-yip!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Appa jumped off the iceberg, staying in the air for only a moment, before dropping down into the water and swimming through the freezing ocean.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s probably just tired,” Aang said, from Appa’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara chatted with Aang for a little while, but she could see just how tired he was becoming, so she offered to steer Appa back the rest of the way so he could sleep for a bit. Within a couple of minutes of laying down, he was quietly asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon arriving back at the ice shelf outside the village, Appa climbed up it with ease before settling down in the snow for a much needed nap. Katara got Sokka to carry Aang into their home, so that when Zuko had a moment he’d be able to do a quick check on the boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For now he slept silently on the long unused bed in their home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Aang wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he’d fallen asleep on Appa. For some reason he was just so tired after directing Appa towards the direction Katara said to go in to get back to the sibling’s home. He’d only planned on closing his eyes for a second. However, next thing he knew he was waking up on something that was decidedly not Appa.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>People in the room were talking around him. It smelt like something was cooking as well. His eyes opened to a roof of ice.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Aang, you’re awake!” Katara said coming over to his side, followed by a person also dressed in blues with long, black hair. Sokka sat on the other side of the house across from another person at a Pai Sho table.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The person who’d followed Katara over to him, put a bowl of soup in his lap before putting their hand against his forehead, </span>
  <em>
    <span>they must be some kind of healer</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Katara lightly slapped away their hand.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Let him wake up before you start examining him,” she scolded, but Aang could see her fond smile on her face.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Honestly Zuzu,” the person across from Sokka said, “give the kid a minute to figure out what’s going on before you go all mother seal-pug on him.” She moved a piece on the board, earning a groan from Sokka.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Excuse me, for wanting to make sure the kid you pulled out of an iceberg isn’t sick,” they turned to him, “You need to eat that, then I want to do a quick exam on you to make sure you aren’t sick.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Aang didn’t need telling twice. He picked up the spoon in the bowl and set to work downing the brothy-soup, (skipping over the small bits of meat in the soup, but not wanting to be rude to these potential new friends) while the other four talked amongst themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The person who’d followed Katara was named Zuko (not Zuzu like he’d previously thought) and the person playing Pai Sho was named Azula, who was also Zuko’s sister. He didn’t really know anything about these new people, but he hoped that they could at least be friends. He missed having people to play with and to be his friend ever since the monks told him he was the Avatar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He listened to them talk. They were really different from the other kids at the air temples, but this was the Water Tribe, maybe that’s just how things were here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he finished, he set the bowl aside to ask Katara a question when another (what should have been) more important worry came to mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, where’s Appa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula looked up from the Pai Sho board, confused. “What’s an ‘Appa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Aang could even explain, Sokka cut in nonchalantly, “Just a giant fluff-monster that shoots projectile snot balls at people and is supposed to be able to fly,” moving another piece on the board.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang laughed at Sokka’s over dramatic explanation, “Appa’s my flying-bison.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula pursed her lips, for a moment. She looked over at Sokka, “Is he joking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope,” Sokka replied, yet Azula still looked confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara rolled her eyes at them, “Appa’s outside. He took a nap right after we got back. Once the mother seal-pug here is done with his ‘exam,’ then you can go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko chuckled lightly, “This won’t take long.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko brought some sort of white light to his hand and carefully scanned his hand Aang’s body. He could feel his chi reacting to the light in Zuko’s hand. It was a weird tingly feeling, but it was still loads better than the normal exams back at the air temple. The healers there would always poke and prod him, Zuko didn’t even need to touch him to do this. It was honestly pretty cool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As quickly as he started, Zuko was done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re all good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? That was fast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zuko shrugged, “I told you it wouldn’t take long. You’re good to go whenever.” He took the bowl from Aang’s lap, eyes briefly darting over the meat chunks. “Ah, I’d forgotten airbenders are vegetarians, aren’t they?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Aang grinned sheepishly, “I didn’t want to be rude though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula practically cackled, “You should give Sokka some lessons in that department. Spirits only know the number of times he’s complained about my cooking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! It’s not my fault you burn everything you try to make.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two continued to argue. Katara grabbed Aang’s arm and tugged him outside the igloo (but not before he could grab his glider), Zuko following not far behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aang, I want you to meet our whole village,” she gestured to a small group of kids, women, and elderly people. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surely this couldn’t be the entire village, Monk Gyatso had always said that the South Pole was a huge city. Maybe this was just one of the smaller villages that didn’t live in the capital city. Then again, if what Katara had said was true, then it had been a hundred years since Gyatso had seen the South Pole. A lot could happen in a hundred years. When Aang’s mind snapped back to the present, he noticed everyone staring at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it,” he asked, looking down at his robes, “Did Appa sneeze on me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An older woman- Aang vaguely heard her introduced as Katara’s grandmother -spoke. “It’s just that no one’s seen an airbender in nearly a hundred years. We’d believed they’d all been killed off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sokka stalked out of the igloo, the Azula girl close behind with a mischievous smirk on her lips, but a coldness in her eyes when she caught Aang’s eyesight for a moment. Sokka took the glider from his hands, examining it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s this some sort of weapon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang quickly snatched it back and popped open the wings. “It’s not a weapon. I use it to fly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, last time I checked humans couldn’t fly,” Azula said doubtfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang grinned, “Watch this.” He sent out a blast of air, propelling him up into the sky. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did some flips and tricks before landing back on the ground. A bunch of the little kids asked for him to do it again. Aang wanted to, but was stopped by some of the tribe ladies who started leading the kids off to their lessons.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that was interesting,” Azula remarked, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going hunting.” She whistled and a big, white, polar bear-dog ran over to her. She swung herself into the saddle and took off out of the village.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You three need to get to work on your chores as well, Aang you’re welcome to join us,” Gran Gran said, getting the other three started for the day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang eagerly joined them, he’d never done Water Tribe chores before, they had to be more fun than his chores back home at the Air Temple. Spoiler alert, they weren’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After an hour Aang was already bored and was tempted to go sit in on the ‘warrior class’ Sokka was teaching to the kids. That had to be more fun mending another net. Luckily it wasn’t long until Katara finished what she’d been working on. And it was also then when Aang finally saw one of the penguins he’d been so excited to see upon waking up in the South Pole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ran off after it, trying to catch its attention so he’d be able to go sledding. Katara called after him. When he got to the penguin colony, they all kept running away from him for some reason. Behind him Katara was laughing at his antics. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara tossed him a small fish and suddenly he was being swarmed by quite a few excited penguins. Once he finally got hold of a single penguin, Katara led him to the edge of the mountain and they raced down the hill, laughing and whooping in joy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They came to a stop at an old metal ship. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Woah, what is this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a Fire Navy ship. It’s been here for as long as Gran Gran can remember. It’s a terrible reminder of the raids that have plagued our tribe for almost a hundred years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aang started walking towards the ship. He’d never seen any sort of ship like this. When he’d been in the Fire Nation with Kuzon, their ships hadn’t looked anything like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara grabbed his shoulder, “What are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Going inside,” he stated matter-of-factly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t go in there, it’s filled with booby traps. They could go off and bring the Fire Nation here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t let fear determine the way you live your life,” he shook her grip off his shoulder, however before he could even get to the ship a polar-bear dog skidded to a stop in front of him and he was met once again by Azula’s icy stare.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten stood at the bow of the cruiser as it pushed past ice flow after ice flow. The sun sat low on the horizon, never rising nor falling, just staying put on what looked to be the edge of the world. He breathed in the cool air of the poles, savoring this moment. For the first time in quite a while the Prince felt at peace.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It’d taken a few months for Lu Ten to finally reach the Fire Nation Colonies, what with his leg being in worse condition than he’d wanted to believe and having to take a detour to find a healer before he messed up his leg permanently. He’d had to stay there for quite some time until the healer deemed him healed enough to travel once again.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>By the time he actually reached a Colony it’d been nearly six months since the ambush at Gaoling. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>And it was that was when he learned that apparently he was dead.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He should have expected there to be some sort of declaration of his disappearance, but him being dead? That was a bit of an exaggeration wasn’t it? </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Though he supposed having been buried alive was as good as being pronounced as dead, so that was fair, but still, they could have made sure before he was pretty much cut out from the royal line, if the leader of that crew had been who he thought it was, then there may have been more of a motive there than he originally believed.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It seemed that right now wouldn’t be the safest time to go back to the palace. The question now was, where did he go? Who could he trust when he wasn’t even sure if he could even trust his own family any more?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took some time, but eventually he finally came to a decision. Not long after he was boarding a boat back to the Fire Nation homeland.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That had been nearly two years ago. Once he’d arrive in the Fire Nation, he’d gone to see his old master in Shu Jing. He’d had a lot of time to think while wandering different parts of the Earth Kingdom and the Colonies, he saw a lot of things he hadn’t been able to see as the Prince of the Fire Nation or just as a soldier following orders. No one had known who he was and he was able to see first hand how this war was affecting everybody.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It needed to end.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He trusted Master Piandao and told him these beliefs to which his old swordmaster invited him to a game of Pai Sho and began to teach him things he hadn’t even thought possible. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Piandao showed him a new way of fighting without having to reveal his recent ailment to his enemies. Lu Ten forged a new sword- seeing as his first one had been lost in the ambush at Gaoling. This sword, instead of sliding into a sheath, hid inside the cover of a cane that greatly aided Lu Ten in both combat and his day to day life.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Piandao taught him of the White Lotus, an organization with members all across the world, dating back hundreds of years. The White Lotus had been working for years to slow down the Fire Nation’s victory until the Avatar could be found. Lu Ten had even learned that his mother- Miyun, who he hardly knew anything about -had been a Grand Lotus, placed in the palace to gather intel to one day stop the Fire Nation, only to actually fall for the prince and bear a child then sadly pass on not long after giving birth to Lu Ten.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten was taught the true history of the war; of Sozin and Roku; of what the Fire Nation had been until that point; of the Air Nomads; of the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom people; everything that his tutors in the palace wouldn’t have dared teach him due to the generations of propaganda being shoved down their throats and into their history. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten spent just over a year at his old master’s estate before his first official mission as a member of the White Lotus came.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He was to return to the palace and keep an eye on Firelord Ozai and Firelady Izel. The White Lotus had grown concerned with the number of Royal Family members disappearing or dying in the past 15 or so years. First his Aunt Ursa and Zuko, then his father and grandfather, and now apparently he had been another target, it was getting to the point where it was almost like this had been plotted out to leave them as the last contenders for the throne. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Someone needed to find out what was going on there and Lu Ten was the perfect person for that. He’d already admitted to having thought they were up to some shady business, he’d know what to look out for.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That’s how Lu Ten found himself back at the Fire Nation palace.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He saw the anger, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the fire</span>
  </em>
  <span>, behind Ozai’s eyes when he learned Lu Ten wasn’t dead. He saw that predator’s gaze in Izel every time she saw him since his return to the palace. She was once again waiting for another time to try and kill him, and yeah, Lu Ten knew it was her. He’d know those eyes anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>While at the palace, Lu Ten had some more time to spend with his cousin who was already 7. The time had flown. He’d seen Ozai training the young girl, and Lu Ten had to say, he was very impressed with her skills. He’d offered to train her in weapon’s combat, but Ozai refused saying that “any day now she’d produce her first flame and would have no need for a non-bender’s means of defense.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Every couple of months after that he’d sent an encoded letter to the White Lotus on updates regarding that of the Firelord and Firelady. Whenever he could, Lu Ten would slip into meetings (that he shouldn’t have been in) and try to get any extra information out to their members around the world.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He should have known something was up when he got called into a private meeting with Ozai and Izel.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>When he arrived, he greeted the Firelord and Lady appropriately, as well as a captain(?) that had also been called into the meeting. Ozai wanted to send a ship to the South Pole to take out the last of their waterbenders. He’d carefully explained that the fleet, led by Chief Hakoda, was beginning to become somewhat of a thorn in their side, so the Fire Nation needed to do something to deter their spirits.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It was then that Lu Ten had asked why he was here, while trying to ignore the part of his mind yelling at him to speak out against this, however the logical side knew he could do more if he were on that ship.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Izel smoothly explained that he and Captain Zhao (that must have been the other guy in the room) were to take the ship and bring the waterbender back to the Fire Nation so they could gain some information from them, lure in the Water Tribe fleet, and then </span>
  <em>
    <span>eliminate</span>
  </em>
  <span> the problem once they had the Chief and his crew secured.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Leading to where Lu Ten was now. On a ship headed towards what was left of the South Tribe’s Capital village thanks to the raid after raid sent by the Fire Nation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew the White Lotus had had a contact out here at one point, but no one had heard from them for quite some time now, it was a safe bet to say they’d died and Lu Ten would have no idea who to even look for once he docked. So Lu Ten was truly alone on leading this mission</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was another thing, Lu Ten was the one in charge of the mission while that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Zhao </span>
  </em>
  <span>fellow was incharge of the ship. Lu Ten had already ordered the crew and soldiers that they were not to attack anyone in the village unless provoked. His goal was to get the waterbender out and get them reunited with their people before Ozai tried to use their powers for his own gain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lu Ten just hoped it’d be enough, because once he freed the waterbender, there was a great risk that he’d be labeled as a traitor to the Fire Nation and the Dragon Throne for assisting the ‘enemy.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Lu Ten was mulling over his thoughts of this whole ordeal, a pillar of light shot up into the sky. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That had to be where the waterbender was</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought to himself. Behind him Zhao was shouting orders at the crew to head towards the light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He already knew this was going to be a long day, wasn’t it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A beam of light shot up in the sky from the waters of the South Pole. At least they knew where to sail to find the waterbender. Zhao ordered the crew to head towards that light. He knew the crew was currently ordered by the Prince to not attack the Water Tribe… </span>
  <em>
    <span>people</span>
  </em>
  <span>. They were known to fight back anytime a raid took place.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It sure would be a shame if the Prince were to get caught in the crossfire. He hadn’t forgotten his assignment from the Firelord; he was to </span>
  <em>
    <span>dispose of the</span>
  </em>
  <span> Prince in any way possible, but to make it look as accidental as possible. It should be easy enough to get rid of him while in the Water Tribe village.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Prince Lu Ten better watch his back or things wouldn’t go quite as he’d expect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It’d been a quiet morning. Azula had slipped out not long after Katara introduced the airbender boy- who was most likely the Avatar but that was a worry for later -to the rest of the village, before Gran Gran called them away for chores. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula mounted her trusty polar-dog, heading out for another hunt. He attempt the previous day hadn’t been as successful as she would have liked (then again the moment she’d seen that strange light in the sky she’d ran back to the village to figure out what was going on). Within an hour, Azula found tracks and started following them.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>It took quite some time, but eventually found where the herd had traveled to. She led Shila behind a large mound of snow and moved across the snow as quietly as possible to figure out which caribou-fox to target. The whole thing would have been easier if she’d brought Sokka with her, but he’d been busy going through some basic training with the kids.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula unhooked a bow from around her quiver and lined up an arrow to take down the caribou-fox standing near the edge of the herd. Taking a breath, she drew back her arrow and released it. As that one flew through the air, she drew another arrow to take down another caribou-fox as they started attempting to flee seeing one of their herd members fall. Another caribou-fox fell to that second arrow. The rest of the herd ran off as Azula moved towards the two fallen caribou-fox. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula drew her knife and carefully cut the throat of the animal, muttering a quick prayer for the animal's spirit to pass on to the next life. She got up and did the same to the other caribou-fox and carried that body over by the other. She got to work cleaning the bodies, removing the hides. She dried out the hide some for easier transportation and cut the meat into strips to dry into jerky (being very careful not to make it too dry or to burn it otherwise she’d have to deal with Sokka’s complaining for a while) seeing as the caribou-foxes weren’t all that large and again, it would make for easier transportation.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She packed up her hunt and loaded it onto Shila. She was fully prepared to start their trek back to the village. While on her way back, Azula did a short patrol, wanting to maximize the limited daylight time she had to work today. She stopped at the top of the usual penguin sledding mountain. From there she could see the old Fire Nation ship, she could see across the ice filled ocean, she could see the Fire Nation ship out it the water-</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>That caught Azula’s attention. She brought Shila to a stop and watched the ship. Azula hoped that maybe the ship would just be sailing by, but as she watched it just got closer. There hadn’t been a ship at their home in years, why were they coming here now?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>The light</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They must have seen the light when Sokka and Katara found that airbender/avatar(?) boy out in the iceberg. She knew that kid would only bring trouble, but did anyone ever listen to her? No, she was the ‘baby’ of the family, so obviously she couldn’t know exactly what she was talking about when it comes to strangers coming into their village.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Down at the long abandoned ship she saw two figures moving towards it. At first glance she’d thought it Fire Nation soldiers, she’d nearly ignited her hand until she saw a yellow and blue blur down at the ship. She rolled her eyes, then gripped the reigns of Shila’s saddle</span>
</p><p><span>She sent Shila into a full sprint towards the old Fire Nation ship. </span><em><span>What was that stupid, airbending boy thinking?</span></em> <em><span>Why would Katara listen to him? Gran Gran always told them to stay away from that ship and what did they go and do?</span></em><span> She urged Shila on faster, hoping to get to her friends before they got on that spirits-forbidden ship.</span></p><p>
  
  <span>Just as they were about to step inside, she skidded to a stop in front of the airbender. He stared at her with startled eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Azula?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She hopped down from Shila’s saddle. “What do you think you’re doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Katara told me about the ship; we wanted to explore it.” The airbender boy chirped, cheerful as ever. Azula was starting to believe that being overly happy was just his default mood. Katara’s face fell a bit at knowing she’d been caught.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula sighed, “We don’t have time for that. There’s a Fire Nation ship on the horizon. We need to get back home.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara’s expression went cold. Both girls remembered what had happened last time the Fire Nation had shown up. They weren’t taking any risks now.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Let’s go.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara mounted Shila, holding onto Azula as they took off in a spring back to the village with the airbender following on his glider. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Azula just hoped they’d get back in time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They were back to the village in record time. Azula and Katara grabbed Zuko and Sokka to let them know what was going on. Aang wasn’t far behind, unsure of what to do. Sokka and Zuko both agreed they’d need to be prepared for a fight, they couldn’t take any chances. Azula sent Aang off to hide his bison and to keep an eye of her dog while they prepared.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Sokka mixed up black, white, and gray paints before carefully drawing the sharp shapes over Zuko’s face, muttering a prayer of protection to Tui and La. Azula did the same over Katara’s face, then Katara and Zuko both painted Sokka and Azula’s faces as well. Those with longer hair (Zuko and Katara) did some quick braids to keep their hair back. The four shed their heavy parkas, opting rather for a couple lays of clothing that would be less in the way during a fire fight.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>They all picked weapons to have in hand, not wanting to risk giving away Azula, Katara, or Zuko’s status as benders. Azula strapped her daggers to her side and checked the extra knives she kept hidden in Shila’s saddle. Zuko took up his set of twin bone swords and sheathed them on his back. Katara took up a spear and, at Azula’s insistence, placed a couple of knives in her sleeves. Sokka slid his boomerang onto his back, his club at his side, and a spear in hand.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Together they stood at the wall of the village in silence. Waiting for the ship to dock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten’s ship docked at the edge of the ice shelf. He led the trek to the village’s wall, Zhao not even two steps behind him. Le Ten struck his cane into the snow, finding it hard to get a firm grip on the slippery ground. He just hoped he wouldn’t need a good root today.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>At the entrance of the village, were four warriors. Two had golden, wolf like eyes, one of them sat on the back of a large polar-bear dog. The other two had ocean-like eyes. All their faces were concealed by monochrome paints. Each warrior had some sort of weapon attached to their person.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Before Lu Ten had a chance to speak, Zhao spoke up.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Hand over the waterbender and we won’t attack your pathetic village,” he demanded in a way that almost reminded Lu Ten of Ozai… </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He had a similar power in his tone, but he lacked the intimidation factor in his delivery.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>An older woman stepped forward, holding onto the shoulder of the warrior with a long braid, some sort of loops by their ears, and blue eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“We have no waterbenders. They were all taken by your people years ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zhao stepped forward, past Lu Ten. Before he could get any closer, Lu Ten caught the Captain’s shoulder with the end of his cane. Zhao didn’t fight back.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“We know you’re lying. I won’t ask nicely again. Give up the waterbender or your village will be burned to the ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten resisted the urge to facepalm. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Seriously of all people to pick for this mission, why had Ozai and Izel put Zhao as Captain, the man knew nothing of how to properly convince someone to leave with him</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The warriors stood silent for a few minutes, then the one on the polar-dog’s back led her mount forward.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“I’m the waterbender.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>As the ship drew closer, Azula, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko, moved to set up a defensive position at the village wall. Azula mounted Shila and stood at the center of the entrance, Zuko off to the right of the entrance, Katara at the left side, and Sokka stood at Azula’s right.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The ship docked a bit off from their wall. A man with a cane led a small fleet of soldiers. A man with awful sideburns followed closely behind the man with a cane. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the first man stopped, Captain sideburns started talking. “Hand over the waterbender and we won’t attack your pathetic village,” he said trying to sound like he was all in charge, but Azula knew a faker when she saw one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gran Gran, held onto Katara’s shoulder as she stepped forward to talk to the man. “We have no waterbenders. They were all taken by your people years ago.” Her voice every bit that of a powerful chief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Captain Sideburns stepped past the man who was clearly in charge of this whole thing, only stopping when the man with a cane grabbed his shoulder. “We know you’re lying. I won’t ask nicely again. Give up the waterbender or your village will be burned to the ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Someone had to do something</span>
  </em>
  <span>. As much as Azula wanted it to be a bluff, she could see that uncontrolled wildness in the man who’d threatened their home’s safety to the point that it actually worried her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without really thinking (but already formulating a plan in her head) Azula urged Shila forward. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m the waterbender.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could feel her family watching her, probably wondering what in the everliving hell she was doing. She didn’t know what she was doing either, but making new plans on the fly was kinda her thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll leave with you peacefully, all I ask is that you give me a few moments to say goodbye,” Azula channeled that same tone she’d heard Gran Gran use earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sideburn man wanted to object, but the actual man in charge beat him to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have five minutes to say goodbye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula slid down from Shila’s saddle, immediately hugging Sokka.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>What are you doing?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He hissed in her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Keeping our family safe,” she replied. “You need to protect them until I get back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled back, staring right in her eyes, “You and I both know, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one</span>
  </em>
  <span> gets away from the Fire Nation unscathed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hummed, “Looks like I’ll have to be the first then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time she’d finished her brief conversation with Sokka, Katara and Zuko had made their way over to her. She hugged her brother next, giving him an affectionate shoulder punch as she pulled away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do anything too stupid while I’m gone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A small smile drew across his lips. “That’s gonna be hard, considering you’re taking all the stupid with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula hugged Katara next, once again dropping her voice to a whisper. “You need to get the Avatar to the North Pole. He needs to learn waterbending and you need a waterbending master to train you. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I can.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula didn’t have a chance to continue before the sideburns man was ordering her that it was time to leave. With a quick hug to Gran Gran, Azula turned to the looming metal ship. It looked nothing like the ships she’d grown up around, what with the large blue sails, and the wooden frames, no this ship was just a terrible reminder of what the Fire Nation had been doing to their home for nearly a century.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stepped towards the ship, Shila as usual, at her heel. Apparently the sideburned Captain had an issue with that however.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That </span>
  <em>
    <span>beast </span>
  </em>
  <span>isn’t coming along.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula debated blowing her cover right then and there. How </span>
  <em>
    <span>dare </span>
  </em>
  <span>this fool even think of calling her beloved dog a beast, let alone actually saying it. She should burn them and their ship to the ground. She took a long, deep breath, making sure not to let any sparks slip from between her teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shila comes with me, that is unless you wish for your boat to be at the bottom of the ocean before you even think of reaching the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man in charge, was trying to hide a grin and failing miserably. “As long as you don’t attack our ship, I see no harm in it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Azula made her way onto the ship, ignoring all the weird looks she was getting from the crew members. The man with the cane led her below deck to a prison room. Shila growled at him as she entered behind the prison bars, Azula followed, ignoring the man. She sat on the ground, leaning against Shila’s side. She sat crossed legged on the hard, metal floor, taking a meditative breath before setting to work formulating a solid plan in her mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It would take time, but Azula knew she could get out of this. She was the daughter of Ursa and Bato of the Southern Water Tribe, near master firebender, wielder of lightning; she could do this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara, Sokka, and Zuko, watched in silent shock as Azula willingly boarded the boat and as it pulled away further and further from the village. Aang stood a bit of a ways behind them, obviously unsure of what to be doing. His staff flitted from one hand to the other.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>All at once, Katara snapped out of her daze and started putting together some supplies.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Katara?” Sokka asked, “What are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She tossed a packed bag onto Appa’s back. “What does it look like I’m doing? Azula said we have to get the Avatar to the North Pole, so I’m getting the Avatar to the North Pole.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Alright, that sounds like a good plan,” Sokka said, “There’s just one small, little problem with it. Where do we get an Avatar!”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Zuko sighed, of course Azula already figured that out and had part of a plan in place. “I think you already did.” They all looked at the boy in yellow. His eyes were downcast, and so sad. He kicked at the ground a bit, shuffling from one foot to another.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Zuko’s right,” he mumbled, “I am the Avatar.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Katara stopped what she was doing, turning to the boy. “Why didn’t you tell us?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He looked off into the distance at where the ship had been only minutes ago. “Because I never wanted to be. I ran away from home and ended up here. I don’t know how or even what really happened, but I don’t think the world’s the same as when I went into the ice.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Great, so we have an Avatar, someone that the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fire Nation</span>
  </em>
  <span> has been hunting for years, what are we supposed to do now? We can’t just leave, Dad told us to keep the village safe, so that’s what we’re gonna do. There’s no time to run off and be playing hero now.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Sokka, there’s no other way,” Katara argued, “Azula said she’d meet up with us. The only way that’s gonna happen is if we head north.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Gran Gran finally cut in before Sokka could continue arguing with Katara. “Listen to your sister. Your destinies are now intertwined with the Avatar, you need to go out and find it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you?” Zuko asked Gran Gran, “And the village? We can’t just leave you here without our help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed, “Zuko, my boy, I ran this tribe for many years, we’ll survive. You’ll all be helping by assisting the Avatar. Go grab your things and get going, you have a long path ahead of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without any argument, the three ran off to gather the supplies and items they’d want to take with them, leaving Aang alone with Kanna.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be afraid to let my grandbabies help you, young Avatar. This isn’t your burden to shoulder alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Avatar bowed to her, “I’ll do everything I can to make sure they come home safe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other three returned, each carrying a bag and bedroll. Gran Gran hugged each one of her grandchildren before they climbed onto the back of the flying bison. When everyone was situated and their supplies were tied down, Aang called ‘yip-yip’ and Appa took off flying in the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As sad as the friends were to leave the only home they’d ever known, each knew this was the right place to be. These were the people they were supposed to be with. Fate certainly had a strange way of bringing people together.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm thinking future chapter are gonna be short, covering like 1 or 2 episodes unless it's like a major episode like the North Pole or the Day of Black Sun, so hopefully that means I can get back to a chapter a week, but we'll see. <br/>Thank you so much for reading!❤❤❤</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Southern Air Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're back with another chapter! I skipped over actually writing aomw of the canon bits, since we all know what happened, and this chapter was already like 2000 words longer than I'd expected.<br/>Anyways, enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After leaving the waterbender and her pet in the brig, Lu Ten went to the galley to make a pot of tea to bring down to their new guest. He picked a blend of tea, brewed it just the way his father had taught him, then returned to the brig with the tea. Upon entering the waterbender glared at him. In silence he poured two cups, slipping one between the bars, ignoring the way the bender’s pet growled at him. He took a sip from his own cup.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her wolf-like eyes flickered down at the cup. “What sort of poison did you use?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nearly choked on his tea. Once he could safely talk without </span>
  <em>
    <span>dying</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he answered. “It would be a crime to add such a thing to a perfectly good cup of tea, don’t you think?.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She scowled at him, but lifted the cup to her lips and drank some, all while glaring at him which was quite intimidating Lu Ten had to admit. She returned the cup to the ground, but quickly moved it to her other side after her pet attempted to steal some.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, now that we’ve been </span>
  <em>
    <span>acquainted</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I suppose the true business begins.” She said, “Where are you taking me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The kid was smart, good to know. “By the order of the Firelord, you are to be returned to the capital for some reason or other, I don’t remember, I started tuning him out after he got through the initial explanation.” (Which was a massive lie, but Lu Ten couldn’t let the waterbender know that just yet if he wanted his plan to work).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes seemed to stare into his soul, almost like she could tell he was lying. He tried not to let his nervousness show, seriously why did this kid actually freak him out so much. She was a lot smaller sitting on the ground then on the back of her polar-bear dog; Lu Ten wouldn’t put her over the age of 16 if he had to guess, which just fueled his hatred towards the Fire Lord’s actions. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was a child and Ozai wanted to kill her just to gain control over land that would do little to nothing for the Fire Nation in the long run. Few firebenders were ever known to be able to survive the months of no sun at the pole (except for his aunt he supposed), it would be foolish to even try and send their armies to try and claim anything in the South Pole (Agni knows, they aren’t getting to the North Pole anytime soon).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The waterbender (whose name he should probably learn) finally tore her gaze away from his and Lu Ten could finally breathe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then I suppose it would be pointless to try and get any information out of you, pity I was looking forward to that,” she mused, picking at what looked to be paint underneath her nails.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even if I did know, what makes you think you could get any information out of me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have my ways.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“You’re the one in a cell, not me kid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Her eyes caught his again, “Aren’t you though?” Lu Ten looked at her, utterly confused. She continued, “You’re not as good of a liar as you believe you are. You’re trapped, caged in a different way than I am, but still it’s a cell. You’re trapped by your world’s expectations for you, that you’re unable to let yourself make decisions for yourself. Suffocating, isn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He froze, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Don’t I,” she leaned closer to the bars, “You know so much more than you’re letting on.” She sat back and picked up the tea cup again and took another sip. “That is unless you’re just some underpaid soldier, sent off to do the work of an insane dictator, but something tells me that’s not what you are at all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>What on Agni’s name was happening? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>She studied him for a moment before continuing, “I’d have to guess that you’re some sort of Commander or possibly an Admiral, however that was without accounting for your crown, so you must be a noble or even a prince, dare I say?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>How did she get all that by just looking at him? Lu Ten was starting to regret coming down to talk to this kid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>By some unlucky stroke of fate, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Zhao</span>
  </em>
  <span> decided to waltz into the brig, his slimy smirk already in place. Probably already thinking about the new promotion he could get for returning the waterbender to Ozai (too bad Lu Ten was planning on that </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> happening).</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“My Prince,” Lu Ten gave the captain a polite nod of greeting, “We’ve set course for the Fire Nation. Once we return with the waterbender, a ransom is to be sent to the Water Tribe peasants fleet. From there we will be able to destroy them and finally take the South.” He turned to the kid, “It appears your sacrifice won’t do much for your pathetic little village.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The golden-eyed kid mock-sighed, “I suppose it won’t, though I do have one question,” she smirked at Zhao, “who’s this waterbender you keep speaking of?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zhao’s smirk faltered ever so slightly, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>What?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I asked,” she stood, placing her hands on the bars, the top of her head well under Zhao’s chin. She had to tilt her head up quite a bit to meet his eyes; her face falling to an innocent expression. “Who’s this waterbender you’ve been speaking of? As far as I can tell I’m the only one down here, so unless you’ve got them locked away somewhere else, I’d have to say you’re out of luck.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Of course they wouldn’t give up their only waterbender so easily.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Lu Ten felt like an idiot. Heat seeped off Zhao’s shoulders, a telling sign he was seconds away from completely melting down the ship if she kept antagonizing him like this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She sat down again against her polar bear-dog. “Y’know when I was younger I used to wonder why it’s taken the Fire Nation a hundred years to get this far in the war, it appears I now have my answer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zhao’s jaw clenched, “Then I suppose we’ll have to turn around and find the true waterbender won’t we. And after that you’ll be killed for daring to lie to an order directly from the Fire Lord.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She stayed silent until Zhao turned to leave. “Don’t bother wasting your fuel. The waterbender already left the South Pole.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Not even spending the time to turn around, Zhao asked, “What makes you so sure of that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Because I told them to leave. I knew it would only be a matter of time until I needed to reveal myself, though I will give your Firelord props for thinking that dragging the waterbender before my Uncle would make him agree to your terms, but apparently he knows nothing about the Water Tribe people and what we’re capable of.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“The Chief is to be met with so many ships it would be impossible for him and his crew to fight them all off,” Lu Ten spoke, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> hoping to de-escalate this whole thing before something actually got burned down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She laughed, “Again, fools. It would have to be a miracle if anyone on your ships made it out alive, considering they’d have my help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“You’re not even a waterbender, what ‘help’ could you possibly bring?” Zhao said mockingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“True as that may be, doesn’t mean I couldn’t kick your ass.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zhao growled at her. “Suppose I believe you, what’s your next move?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I’m still your prisoner, aren’t I? I couldn’t be as much of a problem here if you decide to go chase after the waterbender.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Right then, Lieutenant Jee raced down the stairs to the brig and bowed to Lu Ten. “My Prince, there’s something outside that you need to see.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Ten could see a grin on the not-waterbender’s face. So she definitely knew what was out there. Without another look at her, he ran up to the deck as quick as he could, Zhao barely behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>A large shadow passed over the deck, squinting against the sun, he caught sight of a weird, six-legged shape in the sky. It looked like it could have been one of the creatures the Air Nation people had, but that would be impossible. Lu Ten’s great-grandfather had made sure of that. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But what else could it be?</span>
  </em>
  <span> There weren’t any other creatures that it could be, which brought even more questions, how would the creature still be alive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Unless one of the airbenders had survived.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Hadn’t the most recent Avatar been an airbender?</span>
  </em>
  <span> He thought briefly, then the light they’d seen further south, really just outside the village where they’d found the not-waterbender, flashed through his mind. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is it possible?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>No, no if the Avatar had returned, someone would have known or they would have at least seen the Avatar while at the village. Wouldn’t they?</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zhao shouted at the crew to follow the air creature, then stomped off below deck, most likely to try to get information from their prisoner about the creature in the sky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Lu Ten watched as the creature flew further and further until the creature itself was hidden by the clouds. Lu Ten sighed, his original plans (while would eventually be easier in the long run) as of now, were much more complicated. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, preparing himself to deal with Zhao and the quite devious young lady in the brig.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Once he felt centered, he set back off down to the brig, his cane slamming into the deck harder than he meant to, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop. He had to get his annoyance with Zhao out somehow. It took a lot of willpower not to throw that man overboard somedays.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka lounged at the back of the bison’s saddle, </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get a bit more sleep since </span>
  <em>
    <span>some people</span>
  </em>
  <span> don’t know what is a reasonable time to be awake. He’d gotten used to being up somewhat early having lived with Zuko and Azula his whole life, but this kid got up even before them with even more energy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tui and La</span>
  </em>
  <span>, were all twelve-year olds this hyper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Seriously it had only been a couple of days since they’d left the South Pole and Sokka didn’t think he’d seen the kid in any other mood besides overly-optimistic about everything. At first it had been a bit refreshing having someone always look on the positive side, but after a little longer it just got to the point of being borderline annoying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>At the bisons head, Aang was eagerly chatting away with Katara and Zuko (mostly with Katara but Zuko still added in bits here and there, but at least he was talking more, which Sokka counted as an absolute win) all about the Southern Air Temple and all he used to do when he lived there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka had to admit that with the way Aang talked about the Air Temple it made him kind of excited to see it too. Sokka had only ever seen the architecture of the South Pole, </span>
  <em>
    <span>and thanks to the Fire Nation</span>
  </em>
  <span>, there really wasn’t all that much to look at. So now that he was being given the chance to actually see some professional architecture; he’d be an absolute fool to pass that up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>From what Sokka could see now however, was that they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> flying over the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. While still holding tight to the side of Appa’s saddle- since it definitely still feels very wrong to be flying this high in the sky, humans shouldn’t be able to fly, it just wasn’t natural -Sokka peered over the side at the ocean below.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>As he expected there was nothing below except the ocean. All around them there was nothing but ocean, ocean, more ocean, a boat, and even more oc-</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Snapping his attention back to the small gray dot moving through the ocean. There was really only one thing that could be. A Fire Navy ship. And if Sokka had to guess, he’d say it was the one that had shown up from the South Pole and now held Azula ‘captive.’</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka almost felt bad for the people on that ship. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Almost</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And if he hadn’t grown up around Azula, he would be worried; but here’s the thing, he had grown up with Azula so he knows that she’s got everything under control and is probably even getting some extra information from her captors as they speak. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He watched the ship for a few more minutes and as it changed its original course. The ship turned from its western direction and instead started following nearly the same trail that Appa had been taking. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That didn’t look good.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Aang, we’ve got company,” he pointed down to the ship as the airbender looked around curiously for whatever it was Sokka could be talking about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The boy’s eyes went wide when he saw the ship. “Appa, yip-yip!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The bison flew higher into the cloud cover (with the assistance of Katara’s waterbending) until they could no longer see the ship, and in turn hoping that they wouldn’t be able to see them either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka breathed in a sigh of relief. “That was close. Guys, I think we need to be more careful. We don’t want the Fire Nation following us everywhere we go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“We’ll be safe at the Air Temple,” Aang said determidly, “The monks always said it was designed so that no one but the airbenders would be able to reach the temples.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka shared a look with Zuko and Katara. They all knew what had happened to the air people a hundred years ago. They knew that the Fire Nation had somehow gotten to the people there. They knew that they were with the last of the air nomads, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the last</span>
  </em>
  <span> airbender.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>They flew in silence for a while longer until Aang suddenly perked up excitedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“There it is!” He pointed towards the peaks of the temples that rose above the clouds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Aang,” Zuko said, reaching a hand out to rest on the airbender’s arm. “It’s been a hundred years since you’ve been back, please be prepared that everything won’t be exactly how you remember.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He didn’t seem to hear Zuko, rather excitedly pointing out different places he wanted to show them once they landed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sokka had a feeling that this wasn’t going to have a happy ending.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang landed Appa in one of the grassy patches at the Southern Air Temple. It was so quiet compared to the last time Aang had been here. There had been other kids running around playing, the monks and sisters keeping the younger airbenders from hurting themselves with their powers, sky bison flying everywhere, lemurs stealing pies off of window sills.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, it was just empty. The usual life teeming through the air temple was gone. It was lonely. That’s okay! Everyone just had to be hiding somewhere to keep them hidden away from, what Sokka had been calling, the evil Fire Nation. Maybe they’d left the temple to hide among the Earth Kingdom. There was no way he was the only one left and there was no way the Fire Nation was completely evil. Even if it had been a hundred years.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang knew that couldn’t be true. Kuzon wasn’t evil, even if he did like to cause mischief from time to time, but Bumi had liked getting in trouble just as much as Kuzon, that didn’t make either of them evil. He’d been one of Aang’s best friends. Plus Aang had known a bunch of other kids from the Fire Nation and they hadn’t been evil. Maybe the water tribe kids were just exaggerating, there’s no way a whole nation could just become evil.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang shook off any of those fears and turned back to his new friends who were climbing off of Appa. Once they were down, he airbent the saddle off Appa’s back. He’d been flying for a couple of days, Appa deserved a break while they explored the temple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“C’mon, let’s check it out!” Aang said, hopping with a blast of air, a few extra feet in the sky. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ran off to the main temple courtyard, the others following close behind. He stopped in front of Monk Gyatso’s statue. Gyatso told him the story of how he lost a bet and in turn had to keep this statue up for a year, but by the time that was up, he just didn’t care enough to remove it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang bowed to the statue, thinking of all the fun memories he had with his guardian. All the times they’d launch pies at the other monks, or of the countless rounds of Pai Sho they’d play, of how happy he’d been before they’d tried to take him away from Gyatso.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who’s that?” Katara asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang grinned, “This is Monk Gyatso. He was kinda like my dad. We had a lot of fun all the time. Ooooo, come with me, I want to show you a game I used to play with him and the other kids.” He grabbed her hand and started pulling her along, Sokka and Zuko following them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He led them to the airball court, he really missed playing it with other kids. Ever since he was declared the Avatar, the other kids didn’t want to play with him any more, thinking he had some sort of advantage over them even though he hadn’t even started learning any of the other elements yet. All he knew was airbending, and even if he had known the other elements, it wouldn’t have been much help, the game was called </span>
  <em>
    <span>air</span>
  </em>
  <span>ball not water, earth, or fireball.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He explained the rules to Sokka, Katara, and Zuko. Zuko volunteered Sokka to play against Aang, and Sokka happily accepted, claiming that if he could keep up with the little kids back in the village, he could totally take on Aang.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Needless to say Sokka was losing terribly, but Aang still appreciated his enthusiasm to keep playing. It was nice to play airball with someone else besides Gyatso for once. In the next round, Aang accidently knocked Sokka off of the pole, sending him flying back into a snow pile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang hopped down to make sure he hadn’t hurt Sokka. “Are you okay? I didn’t think you’d go flying,” Aang said sheepishly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka stood brushing the snow out of his hair and off his clothes. “It’s fine Aang,” he sighed, he looked around for a minute. “Hey, where’s Zuko?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, he went to check on Appa,” Katara answered, swiftly. “Aang, I think you’ve beat Sokka enough, there’s still a whole temple for you to show us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang thought for a moment, then remembered a room Gyatso had told him about a long time ago. A room where he’d find someone to talk to about being the Avatar when the time was right. And now felt like the right time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come with me, there’s someone I’m ready to meet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko did actually go to check on Appa, only to find the bison napping comfortably on the grassy patch. But he mostly left to search around the temple for any more remnants of the Fire Nation having been there. Katara had found that helmet out where Sokka was playing against Aang in airball. He wanted to tell Aang, but she argued against it. He didn’t need to know just yet, they would tell him, but just decided to give him a bit more time before that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Sure they couldn’t protect him forever, but they could for a while longer. He was so young and so excited to be home that he didn’t need to see that right now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He found a few more spots with rusting Fire Nation armor and skeletons of the soldiers that had once invaded the temple. Each pile of bones was replaced with piles of ash as Zuko found them, knowing how funeral rituals for each of the nations were supposed to take place, and those from the Fire Nation were cremated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>No matter these peoples past, they deserved a proper send off. They’d died due to a madman who wanted too much power, it wasn’t their fault. Zuko sent a prayer to Agni that they’d now have the chance to pass on since their bodies had finally been put to rest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Among the bodies of the Fire Nation soldiers, laid the bodies of the Air people. Adults and children scattered among them all. It was awful. Seeing all the death and destruction done by one nation, it was horrible. And to think, had Mom stayed in the Fire Nation, he would have grown up believing the Fire Nation’s propaganda to be true.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>While he’d been walking, a lemur landed on his shoulder looking for any sorts of food. Zuko pulled out a couple of dried peach slices for the little creature. It snatched the food from his hand, licked his face, then flew away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko went off to find his friends not long after that. Somewhere in the distance he could hear Sokka and Aang chasing after something, probably some animal, if the younger boy’s enthusiasm towards any new creature was anything to go by. Zuko already had had to draw out the venom of a prickle racoon-snake that Aang had tried to pet that morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko loved the kid, he really did, but at points like that it was hard to see Aang as the same kid who would end up saving the world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Eventually Zuko found Katara in a room full of statues. She told him they were the past Avatars. Zuko stopped in front of the most recent Avatar. Avatar Roku. His and Azula’s great grandfather, he mentioned his to Katara and how it was kinda weird to think of Aang as Roku’s reincarnation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Katara snorted, “Does that make Aang your great-grandfather?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko cringed, “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll actually take claim to that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Not even a second later, the eyes on all the statues started glowing. Something was going very wrong. The two took off in a sprint towards where Sokka and Aang had run to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Fire Sage Kuzon was tending to Avatar Roku’s statue when the eyes began to glow. From what he knew, that only ever happened when the Avatar entered the Avatar State. But that was impossible, no one knew where the Avatar was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, he allowed himself one foolish thought…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Aang?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that too was impossible. Aang had died a hundred years ago with the rest of the Air people. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t dwell on that, but his obligations he had to send notice to the Firelord of the Avatar’s return.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Azula heard the footsteps coming back. She slid a smirk into place preparing for the drama that was bound to unfold with the ship’s captain.  Captain Mutton Chops returned, practically fuming. Oh the joys of getting to annoy someone other than her brother. At least with this guy she could do whatever she wanted since once she left, she’d never have to see his stupid face again. He stopped in front of her cell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that?” He growled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lounged against Shila’s side, “What was what? In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve been down here the whole time. I couldn’t see what you had seen up there, so please explain it to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He huffed a puff of steam, “A six-legged beast that can fly.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So the Avatar’s creature </span>
  <em>
    <span>can </span>
  </em>
  <span>fly</span>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Doesn’t sound like anything back home. Are you sure I’ll know anything about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen here you little sh-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zhao!” The prince returned as well, “I’ll handle the prisoner, return to your station.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wanted to argue, but the prince was his superior, so he was forced to obey the order. He bowed and left, but not before shooting a glare back at Azula. She smirked back. This was a lot of fun. Her time here was beginning to look a little more enjoyable if she could just constantly annoy this guy all day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Prince watched as he left, clearly he wasn’t much of a fan of the captain either. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Very interesting</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The Prince sighed once the captain finally left the room. He once again sat outside the bars of her cell, setting a bucket of water and rag at his side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would apologize on his behalf, but I’d rather not.” He dipped the cloth in the water and handed it through the bars. “I figured you’d want to wash that paint off your face.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was certainly unexpected, but she wasn’t going to argue. She didn’t need her skin stained from the paints, she’d already had it one for more than a day. In silence she whipped off the paint, reaching through the bars to clean out the excess paint from the cloth until her face was clean.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince stared at her for a minute after she set down the rag, almost as if he were trying to figure out who she was. He was the prince, maybe he’d known her mother, when she’d been back in the palace. Azula had been told many times by different members of her family, just how much she looked like her mother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once he noticed he was staring, he awkwardly cleared his throat, unsure of what to do next. “So, um, what’s your name?” Azula raised a brow at his uncertainty, “The crew and I have just been referring to you as ‘the waterbender’ but seeing as that’s not true, we don’t have any other name for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why should I tell you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you just want to be called ‘kid’ for the rest of your time here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not optimal, but I suppose it’s better than anything else you may come up with.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Seriously?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula shrugged, “My cousin’s come up with worse nicknames before,” she paused for a moment, “Plus why should I tell you my name, when I don’t even know yours?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince laughed, “I apologize, allow me to introduce myself, I am Prince Lu Ten, son of General Prince Iroh and Lady Miyun, and you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Azula fought a grin. There was something about this guy that reminded her of Sokka, probably the goofiness during a situation where that is most definitely not the proper mood for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Azula,” she introduced herself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>And here come the questions</span>
  </em>
  <span> of why a Water Tribe child has a name that would almost fall in the Fire Nation category.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked curious, but didn’t ask anything else. “Well, I best be getting back to my position. If you need anything, let me know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How about a key to get out of here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lu Ten stood, getting his balance with his cane. “Nice try, kid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You asked my name and you aren’t even going to use it?” Azula called after his as he left the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t give her an answer. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Figures</span>
  </em>
  <span>, this guy’s main goal seemed to be to make himself as annoying as possible. So now Azula had to deal with him for a while before she escaped. Although, she had to admit, he wasn’t the worst person to deal with. No that honor full to the captain of poor facial hair decisions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Katara and Zuko ran towards the funnel of wind that had appeared in the direction Sokka and Aang had run off in. Sokka was shouting at Aang, but it was clear he couldn’t hear him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“What happened?” Zuko asked, shouting over the noise from the wind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“He found out Firebenders killed Gyatso!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Katara looked over at the boy whose eyes and tattoos were glowing, it was like when she found him in the iceberg, it must be an Avatar thing. “I’m gonna try to calm him down, cover me!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She walked against the force of the raging winds getting closer and closer to Aang. He was hovering a few feet above the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“Aang!” She called out, “Aang please, come back to us! I know it’s hard losing the people you love.” She continued pushing forward. She uncorked her water pouch and froze her feet in place. “Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you’re not alone Aang! Sokka, Zuko, and I, we’re your family now, please come back to us!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang’s face turned from rage to passiveness. He descended back towards the ground before collapsing into Katara’s arms. His eyes and tattoos stopped glowing. Sokka joined her by Aang’s side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“We aren’t gonna let anything happen to you,” he said putting an arm over Aang’s shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He collapsed between them. His eyes opened; his expression just so sad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he said. His voice was so small and so, so sad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Katara hugged him. “It’s okay Aang, it wasn’t your fault.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“But it was! I lost control, I could have hurt you or Sokka or Zuko, I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“You were angry,” Zuko said, joining them. “You just found out so many people you love are gone, you’re allowed to be angry, Aang.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang sagged in Katara’s side. She held him for as long as he’d need.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“I should have listened to you guys when you said to be careful, I just didn’t want to believe it. I really am the last airbender.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>“No one would want to,” Katara said, “But Aang, just remember that no matter what, you’re never truly alone. We aren’t leaving you anytime soon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Zuko stepped forward, his hand glowing with his healing fire. “Here you’re bleeding.” He healed the cut across Aang’s forehead, and loosed a rag from his belt to whip away the remaining little bit of blood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Aang was then surrounded in a hug by the other three teenagers. Katara had meant every word she’d said. They’d do whatever necessary to protect Aang now. He needed them more than anything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>After that they packed up to leave, as sad as Aang was to leave, it was time to move on. He needed to get to the North Pole to master waterbending. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before they even left, they were joined by their little lemur friend that Sokka and Aang had been chasing earlier. Zuko offered the lemur a piece of fruit before it went and climbed onto Aang’s head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He laughed, “I’m gonna call you Momo.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The past couple of days had been hectic to say the least, what with spotting that creature in the sky, finding out their ‘waterbender’ wasn’t even a waterbender, that hawk showing up from Fire Sages claiming the Avatar had returned, all in all, this week wasn’t going anything like he had expected. Who could have guessed that any of this would have happened at any point, certainly not Lu Ten.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He made a quick round through the ship, just needing some time to clear his mind before returning to his room to draft a letter to Piandao of the changes that would be of importance to the White Lotus, then he’d need to figure out just how he was going to break this kid out of the ship when the time was right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>As he passed the room where the kid was still being held, Lu Ten saw a small light emitting from behind the brig’s mostly closed door. He lifted his cane from the floor and used the wall as a support to quiet his approach. He cracked the door open ever so slightly more to see Azula holding a small blue flame in her hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>She’s a firebender. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>That was unexpected (though with having a Fire Nation name and clearly having at least some Fire Nation blood, he shouldn’t have been surprised), and that’s not even mentioning the color of her flame. Lu Ten hadn’t heard of many people ever being able to wield blue flames. Not even his grandfather, the great prodigy he’d been, had ever wielded them. This kid was a lot stronger then he’d previously thought, very good to know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She was talking to her pet quietly, her voice filling the silence of the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“We’ll be gone soon Shila. We just need to get a bit further north before we leave, then we’ll find our family.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>The polar-bear dog whined, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I know. You hate being cooped up down here. I’ll get you out of here soon and you can run as much as you want to while we try to find the others, but we just need to hold up a while longer. You couldn’t cross the whole Earth Kingdom in the time it takes the Avatar to reach the Northernmost point, we just need to wait.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The Avatar’s actually back? So it wasn’t just the ancient Fire Sages losing their minds. Also it seemed important to note that this kid was already planning on leaving at one point or another, very good to know. Maybe helping her escape would be a lot simpler than expected, considering she was already planning it. Agni he may not even need to help her escape.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Though he did need her to know that he was on her side. That he wanted Ozai stopped just as much as her and her family and with the Avatar back, that was seeming more and more likely than it had even just a week ago.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dog made another noise, that the firebender seemed to understand perfectly. In almost a nervous voice, she replied, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m worried too, Shila. While these people may not be the greatest threat we’ve faced; the Fire Nation’s still dangerous. They hurt Zuzu, they’re why Mom and Dad had to leave, they aren’t something to be taken lightly. We need to be ready for anything.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That hurt Lu Ten’s heart a bit. She was still just a kid. A kid who was alone on this ship with no one but her pet, whose parents left to fight in the war, whose friends were back in her village, and here she was scared in the hands of a nation that had hurt her family and people again and again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The blue flame in the room flickered out, allowing the complete darkness to take over. Lu Ten waited a few minutes before walking away from the brig as quietly as he could, not wanting to alert the firebender of his presence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Once back in his room, he began drafting out his plan, he could write Piandao later, this kid just kept throwing wrenches in his plans. Zhao couldn’t know of his ‘traitorous’ plan or he’d be even more likely to be killed by the Fire Nation royals. He needed to be stealthy. He couldn’t draw any unwanted attention to himself if this were to work.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Once she left, it’d only be a matter of time before someone figured it out and then he too would be hunted and declared a traitor to the throne. He could always go with her, but again, that meant gaining Azula’s trust, and from the sounds of it, the Fire Nation had hurt her family multiple times, so he doubted she’d trust him any time soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>He sighed, dropping his head into his hands. He doubted he’d be sleeping at all that night.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And now off next to Kyoshi Island. I honestly still don't know how that chapter is gonna work, I haven't planned these chapter a out in advance, I just have ideas of what will happen later.</p>
<p>I'm also gonna put this here, this next chapter probably won't come out until like the end of the month (unless I cram out a chapter in a week, but we'll see). I'm getting my wisdom teeth out next week (which is my spring break... fun.) So I probably won't be working on this at all that week. Just thought I'd let y'all know.</p>
<p>So as always, thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you next time. ❤❤</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be coming soon (maybe next week?).<br/>For more updates and such you can check on my tumblr page 'theatrequeen.'<br/>Again thank you for reading and I'll see you next time.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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